Hung Jury
by FanficFridays
Summary: With the world of Remnant falling apart, humanity's only hope lies in its heroes banding together. Before they can take action, they must come to terms with one another.
1. Chapter 1

**This was a random idea I got in my head and couldn't shake out. Take it for what you will. I really ought to be studying for midterms.**

Mercury Black considered himself to be good at his job. Exceptional, even. He had been trained to kill ever since he could walk, and even had the dubious distinction of being recruited by the premier group of evil doers in all of Remnant. He could fight fully trained huntsman, though he rarely gave them the opportunity. Why risk your own ass when poison or well placed explosives got the job done so well? The so called heroes of the world rarely expected such tactics, so caught up in defending mankind that they forgot what other humans were capable of.

On top of that, he had maintained an unblemished criminal record, despite his line of work. Dozens of high value targets that lead to nothing but dead ends and framed suckers. In fact, until the debacle in Vale, which he could and did blame on the utter incompetence of his boss, ordering an _assassin_ of all things to break cover, no one had suspected him of anything worse than jaywalking. He had coasted through the Vytal Festival Tournament, cutting through the best talent the academies had to offer like paper mache, and was personally responsible for a great deal of headaches for Ironwood and his cronies in the following year.

Taking all that into account, his most recent bout was far closer than it deserved to be. The bruises and abrasions that zig zagged across his upper body, the drained aura and the faint streams of blood leaking from his wounds were a testament to that. But the prone body on the ground was medicine enough for him.

He tried to place the name, because he swore the figure before him was familiar. Someone from Beacon, he was certain of that. Local or transferred for the Festival... local. Why someone like that was in Mistral of all places was a mystery to him, and one that was not worth solving. He should have remembered anyone capable of giving him trouble, and this kid didn't make that shortlist. He sighed, leaning against the walls of the narrow corridors for support, indulging himself for the briefest of moments before he had to deal with the shit storm that had engulfed the rest of the base.

' Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos...' he recalled, trying to piece together their files in his mental state. Yang's strength and durability were enough to give her a real chance to beat him in the finals, even if he wasn't ordered to throw that match. 'Still probably could have taken her.' Her runt little sister hardly seemed like much, just an overgrown four year old on a sugar high with a semblance to match. But those silver eyes... he had seen the number that girl had done on Cinder, and he did not want to be on the receiving end of that. And the late, invincible Pyrrha Nikos, who had managed to hold her own against the Fall Maiden, which was very respectable. He wasn't sure if Cinder's previous defeat of Ozpin was a point for or against the Spartan. She wasn't in a position to care about her score.

His eyes widened in recognition. This was Pyrrha's partner! Joan ... Jacque? Jaune. Jaune Arc. The nobody who had cheated his way into Beacon. The fool who could barely hold a sword, whose skill had placed him in the same threat level as a newborn puppy. Whose naive, friendly smile was matched only by his determination to get knocked on his ass, and his total cluelessness towards the opposite sex. Whose so called 'strategic genius' came across as a desperate attempt to avoid total obscurity in a school he had no business being anywhere near.

Those timid eyes were the same ones that had locked against his own, nothing but cold observation and determination bleeding through? The tactical prowess he had so callously dismissed the same that had lured him into a small hallway, where his mobility advantage had been entirely negated, and tricked him into opening his own defenses time after time while stubbornly keeping up its own? That scrawny rookie had managed sword and shield play that gave almost as good as he got, and had an aura capacity so large that Mercury feared he might never pierce through it? That utter weakling turned out to be the one who nearly did him in?!

Mercury lasehd out, kicking the wall repeatedly, leaving three large dents and a long crack in the abused stone and metal. 'No use getting angry about it now. He's dead anyway.' But still, for a while... no. Thinking like that was pointless. So what if this was the closest he'd come to death since his final bout with his father, when he had lost his legs and whatever remained of his tattered innocence?

He shot the body a cross between a glare and a salute. As screwed up as he may be, Mercury respected strength, and his opponent had shown it. " Jaune Arc. I'll remember the name." He muttered, before turning around, and walking away. Thankfully his legs were in full working order, the steady prosthetics entirely immune from pain. He preferred them actually. No matter what else happened, he'd still be standing. If he had been so inclined, he could say there was something poetic about that.

" _Funky to Jury!_ " The radio crackled, as Mercury scowled.

"More pests."

" _Funky to Jury, do you copy? Do you have the package?_ "

" _Jury 3, over_ " a high pitched, familiar, dangerous voice replied. " _We have the papers, and are headed to the evac point._ " The reaper paused. " _Hey Weiss... where is the evac point?_ "

Even over the static of the radio he could make out a long suffering groan. " _It's the docking bay we came in through you dolt! Can't you remember anything?_ ".

A deeper, annoyed voice called out through the radio.

" _Funky 1 to Jury 2. You do realize this is an open channel?_ " Mercury grinned involuntarily, imagining color the former heiress' face must be right now.

" _We'll cover you, just be regroup, be ready to fight when we get there, and be quiet!_ "

Neither of the partners was willing to reply to that. That was fine by him. ' Assuming that both teams are full, there are at least three more hunters in the building, maybe seven. Hopefully FNKI is only going to be at the evac point. That still means three combatants, at decent strength, if the guards I roughed up were an average for what counted for muscle around here.'

Those odds were manageable if he could find them throughout the building and pick them off one by one, quickly enough that they couldn't figure out what was going one. But the brat and the bitch were almost certainly traveling together. And one of them was at the top of his flee on sight list. And he was exhausted to the point where even a semi-competent fighter could finish him off.

' I can get enough aura to block one or two shots in ten minutes. I can't delay any longer, and that's not going to cut it.' For a moment, Mercury considered cutting his losses, waiting for them to leave, and telling Watts exactly where he could shove it. He was only here waiting on orders from up top. Defending some podunk base on the outskirts of Mistral wasn't his job, and certainly wasn't worth dying for.

But he was sure that those papers were important, somehow. They probably had information on other locations, logistics, and the identities of moles within the enemy forces. Watts had a bad habit of keeping stuff like that written down, for the sake of his sacred 'organization', and Mercury couldn't think of anything else worth deploying two teams of increasingly scarce fighters away from the hordes tearing through Mistral. Salem would not be pleased if those details fell into Ironwood's hands.

'And Watts will pin the whole thing on me.' He thought grimly. He could see it now. ' _You were present_ ' he'd say in his pompous, condescending tone, ' _and you failed to prevent a group of children from crippling our efforts_.' He'd be Beowolf food, if he was lucky.

'Damned if you do, damned if you don't.' Ruby was fast, but she had to keep pace with Weiss in her high heels, and the office was about as far from the docking bay as you could get. If he hurried, and beat team FNKI, he could rig a couple fuel tanks, set them off at just the right time, then hoof it to the nearest settlement until one of his contacts found him. It was possible that one of the smaller airships was still intact, but he couldn't count on flying his way out.

So caught up was he in his murderous fantasies that he nearly missed the sword slashing from behind him. Years of training and hardwired instinct were all that saved him from the ancient bite of polished steel that opened up another gash on his back as he leapt forward. Turning back, in shock, he saw a bloodied mess of blond and white, trembling, but standing, and very much alive.

"That was close, Jaune." He remarked, nonchalantly, blocking out the agony in his back with a mixture of malice and mirth. "But not close enough."

"You're... not going to lay a finger on any of them." Jaune forced out, holding his stance and preparing for the inevitable counter blow. "Not... ever... again."

"I've gotta say, buddy," Mercury stated. "You are hard to put down." He kicked, sending a blast of air at just the right point on Jaune's shield, knocking it out of his grasp and across the floor. 'Stupid' he thought. The Jaune of two minutes ago wouldn't have made that kind of mistake.

"But you aren't half as smart as I thought you were." Mercury growled. He wanted to laugh at the pathetic parries Jaune's blade gave his kicks, delaying the inevitable by one moment more. Finally, one connected on his chest , a glancing blow, unfortunately, that knocked the shaken swordsmen to his knees by the equally battered wall. The blond refused to fall down, pointing the tip of his blade forward in preparation for one desperate, futile thrust.

"If you were, you would have stayed down."

Mercury prepared to pounce. A shot rang out. It wasn't his.

He howled in pain as the round grazed his arm, forcing him back. He whipped around, surprised to see another shock of blonde and gold approaching. His blood ran cold as he recognized the crimson eyes and voluptuous form of number two on the short list. Yang Xiao Long stood, five yards behind the knight, pure hatred in her eyes.

"Nice arm." He chuckled, looking at the smooth black metal that had once been flesh and and bone. "Personally I think a good prosthetic only helps your looks. Just look at yours truly." he gestured playfully towards his own legs, buying time.

Unfortunately, the beauty before him had no interest in small talk, closing the distance nearly as fast as he could backpedal.

He escaped her tunnel vision for a brief moment as she noticed the broken blond kneeling next to her. If it was possible, her gaze grew even darker, the sheer loathing cutting across the room as flickers of fire sparked around her, reminding him eerily of Cinder on a bad day. A bad day like this one.

Yang would have been a headache to deal with at top form, manageable, perhaps, but warranting caution. But now, when he was already near death's door, and outnumbered, as that boy, no matter how beaten he was, had proven he couldn't be underestimated, she was a death sentence. If he didn't think fast an angry Salem would be the least of his problems, and that was never a good thing.

Ten feet behind him there was a metal door, 5 inches thick and able to be electronically locked, for situations just like these. It could withstand Yang's fury for a minute, not two, but long enough for him to get the hell out of there. Getting behind it and closing it before she reached him was the hard part. She raised her good hand, Ember Celica's remaining gauntlet cocking for the incoming barrage on his unprotected flesh, and a brilliant idea sprung to him.

"Hey hot stuff,", he yelled, "think fast!" Before she could reach him, he fired off a storm of air bursts. None connected, at best throwing her own shells slightly off course, but he wasn't aiming for her. The abused wall, right next to Arc, suddenly began to creak and crumble from the impact, and the nearby roof panels sure to follow.

"It's either me or him, gorgeous." He winked. " I know you'll make the right choice." For a moment he felt a remarkable kinship with Jaune Arc. He had proved to be his near equal in combat, and now, both their fates laid in the hands of the blonde brawler. Either both lived, or both died. Yang didn't hesitate.

"Jaune!" she cried out, rushing back to block the incoming debris from crushing his defenseless form. Mercury leapt beyond the threshold and punched the combination in rapid fire. As the door closed he caught a glimpse of the buxom brawler struggling to hold a ton of concrete up long enough for her friend to scurry out of the way.

"You have shit taste in men!" He called victoriously, before rushing away as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

Jaune always tried to look on the bright side of things. The way things had been going lately, it was the only way he managed to stay sane. The silver lining of being beaten _nearly_ to death was that you were still alive. The silver lining of a massive heap of stone falling two inches in front of him meant that he wasn't crushed and bleeding any more profusely than he already was. The silver lining of having Yang Xiao Long shaking with fury and turning a hefty portion of that stone into powder was that she wasn't furious at him, yet. Fragments of steel and stone bounced harmlessly off her aura as she dropped what was left of the wall.

"That dirty son of a bitch!" She started, and Jaune felt compelled to cut her off before a more colorful string of expletives followed.

" We need to warn the others." She frowned, before agreeing, and pulling out her scroll. "Jury 1 and 4, over. We've got one of Cinder's inner circle in the building. Mercury Black." She spit the names out like they were the foulest curses in her extensive repertoire.

" _Any casualties?_ " Flynt Coal replied, nervously.

"I'm wounded, but I'll live." Jaune replied. He glanced at the team roster on his scroll. Yang's aura was deep in the yellow. His was nonexistent. "Jury 1 and 4 are both low on Aura."

" _Copy. Link up with Jury 2 and 3 and head to the evac point. We'll be on the look out for new VIP._ "

The scroll stayed silent for a moment. Yang's eyes flicked over his wounds, irises tinting red before fading into a more tender lilac.

" He really did a number on you, Vomit Boy."

" Yeah."

Both fighters stayed still for a moment, both very acutely aware of how close this fight had been, how easily Jaune could have been just another friend lost, another statistic. It was humbling, to say the least.

The somber mood was broken by Yang, who inexplicably perked up, reminding Jaune that appearances aside, she was definitely Ruby's older sister.

" But never fear! Your guardian Yangel is here!" Jaune let out a pained groan.

"I am not in mood right now." The blonde wore an impish grin.

" I can tell. You look pretty Yanged up."

"Oh, you are just on fire today, aren't you."

She clapped his shoulder pad, doing her best to ignore his pained flinch. "You're learning!"

Jaune sighed. Blond, battered, taking on dangerous enemies alone _and_ making puns?

"It's contagious."

Yang wagged a finger in his face. "I'll have you know that I am by far the best STD you'll ever catch."

"... Dammit Yang."

Yang's scroll buzzed, breaking the growing tension. "Ruby and Weiss will be here in five minutes." She glanced at the time, then him. "Take off your armor."

"Awfully forward today, aren't we?"

She lightly punched his arm, in a place she hoped wasn't hurt.

" No, but I am playing doctor. Give me the med kit."

Yang took a moment to appreciate the surreal quality of this exchange. Jaune carried the med kit because it was usually his job to treat the rest of them. It was rare that anything dented his aura enough for him to need it.

His torso was criss crossed with bruises, the gaps between his plates littered with cuts and scrapes, and his favorite hoodie was a complete mess.

" I have no idea if there's a seamstress alive who can fix this."

"Don't worry Jauney" she cooed " when Dad started teaching me and Ruby how to hunt at home , the first lesson was on how to _Patch_ someone up." His eyes narrowed.

"If you want to kill me, you can just swing. One punch is all it would take."

She scraped away blood and shrapnel harder than she had to.

" That would be too easy Vomit Boy." She said, cheshire grin growing by the second.

" Why would I kill you when you're _so_ much fun."

Jaune winced again, this time from the disinfectant, and gave her a resigned stare.

"Hit me with your best shot."

That was profoundly unfair. Yang had almost no time to come up with material.

" Well, I have wondered what you'd look like on your knees."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow at her as she bandaged one of his larger cuts. She got the message. _Is that really the best you can do_? Months ago, that would have had him stammering and red in the face. However, Jaune Arc had grown up with seven sisters, and then been teamed and roomed with two, and then three, very attractive young women. More importantly, he had been exposed to Yang on a daily basis. All these factors gradually chipped away at whatever remained of his modesty. Her teasing had lost quite a bit of its punch.

"Why, like something you see?" Yang gaped. He had also learned to counterpunch.

"I... I am so proud of you!"

"Eep!" Around the corner two familiar faces came around, one averting their eyes anxiously, and the other looking straight forward and non-plussed.

"For Dusts' sake, Jaune, put your shirt back on. You're almost as bad as Sun."

He looked down. Rendezvous was now, apparently. He could have sworn he'd have longer, but Ruby had probably sped all the way here, partner in hand. This was as patched up as he was going to get.

He tenderly replaced his torn up hoodie on his body, before linking together each plate of armor on the surface.

"Oh lighten up Weiss Cream."

"If you keep this indecent nonsense up you'll corrupt Ruby. Doesn't she have enough psychological issues?"

"Hey!"

"I was treating his wounds!"

"Is the banter really appropriate?"

As touching as this team building experience was, truly, Jaune felt the need the break it up. He forced himself to walk over to his shield and sheathed his weapon back at his hip.

"We need to move. The sooner the better."

He turned to Ruby. "Can I see the package?"

" Sir, yes sir!" She replied, childishly waving a large manilla folder filled to the brim with papers before shoving it back into her pack.

"Good."

Finding the urge impossible to resist, he turned his attention to Weiss. " As bad as Sun?" The faunus who was ridiculously toned and ridiculously comfortable displaying that fact?

" That's the closest thing to a complement you've ever given me."

The white haired girl harrumphed and began walking forward, cutting through the hole in the wall before turning towards their destination. Yang turned to him conspiratorially as he began walking of his limp.

" I think she's more of a Neptune."

"Oh well ."

"Better luck next time lady killer."

Weiss began walking noticeably faster, regal strides growing longer and longer. Ruby turned back with a smile and a stage whisper.

"I think the two of them are off right now." Weiss sped up further, until she was as far away from the group as safety would allow.

Yang dealt the finishing blow, relishing in the on/off/on relationship of her icy team mate. "Scandalous."

Weiss glared daggers, then froze in front of the entrance to the docking bay. Jaune pulled out his scroll. "Jury to Funky, we are at the evac point? Do you copy?"

For several seconds you could hear a pin drop as everyone awaited the response.

" _Copy that, bullhead inbound, ETA 100 seconds. Clear the area and await pick up_."

Jaune straightened up and turned to Weiss.

"What are we looking at?"

Weiss concentrated as a thin grey glyph spread out across the ground.

" 17 guards, standard weapons. Sub par skills. No aura users."

Of course. After their entrance, the building had been too quiet. The survivors must have all headed to the docking bay after it was announced as the evac point.

"Any explosives?"

"Aside from some scattered dust and fuel, no."

"Alright. Yang and I will take point, Weiss, provide support with your glyphs, Ruby, stay back and provide covering fire."

This was basically standard procedure for these situations. Ruby and Weiss had a more varied arsenal and excellent mid and long ranged weapons. He and Yang were the damage soakers.

"Hold it." Weiss handed him a pistol. " I picked this off one of the goons after your encounter with Mercury . You're in the back with Ruby."

Jaune was about to point out that he couldn't hit the broadside of a Beowolf but Weiss gave no room for argument. Of course the fact that his aura was completely drained would make his career as a bullet shield short lived. "Just stay back and try not to die."

A sea of rose petals engulfed her. "Oh Weiss, you do care!" Ruby cried, arms wrapped awkwardly around the older girl. Yang and Jaune glanced at one another and then broke out into laughter.

"Get off me you oaf!" Weiss shook the red reaper off with increasingly petulant movements. "I am just trying to ensure that no one gets killed before they have to."

Ruby shrugged. "It's progress." She turned to Jaune, grinning from ear to ear. "Sniper squad?" she asked, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. In spite of himself, Jaune smiled back. "Sniper squad."

* * *

The ensuing melee was madness. The guards nearest to the door went down instantly, one from an uppercut to the face, and another from a rapier to the throat. Long gone were the days of non lethal force. These were soldiers serving Salem herself, the creature who wanted to raze civlization into nothing but ash.

Another six were taken out by sniper fire in the following five seconds. All of those kills, naturally, belonged to Ruby, who easily carried the 'sniper squad'. The best Jaune managed to do was force one of the goons behind cover so he couldn't shoot at Yang. He really lacked accuracy in any meaningful sense, so he had to angle all of his shots away from his team. Which, when two of them were in a close combat melee with all the other fighters, was difficult.

Luckily, the two of them hardly needed help. Weiss had frozen two soldiers in ice in as many seconds, electrocuted the third and after some effort incinerated the fourth.

Yang was an angel of death, fists pounding relentlessly on everything she could get her hands on in a golden maelstrom of shattered bones. She was also reckless, more so than usual, falling back into old bad habits and letting too many hits get through. On the ninth and final minion, her aura flickered and died. The man grinned eagerly, before a single, semblance fueled punch knocked him halfway across the hanger, skidding painfully across the floor. The fight was over as soon as it started.

"Well, that takes care of that." Jaune said, unconvinced, and dodging a high five from a disappointed Ruby. He looked over the surrounding area, watching for any sign of Grimm. 'It's not paranoia when the world is out to get you.'

"Jury 2 to Funky, we have cleared the evac point."

" _Copy, we have eyes._ "

Jaune looked up and saw an Atlesian bulkhead preparing to touch down, with four junior huntsman watching dully from it. They were supposed to provide support in case of a hard exit. Now it seemed they were getting a milk run.

Of course they weren't, Jaune thought, as soon as he heard the sound of artillery and saw the shaking airship get pummeled as it approached.

" _I thought you said it was clear!_ " At this point Flynt had dropped all pretext of code names.

"It is!" Ruby replied hastily. "We took out all the guards, and we disabled the AA guns when we got here!"

" _Are you like, sure about that, because a few explosions beg to differ_." Another, irritating voice came through.

" _Neon, now is not the time!_ "

" _I'm just saying that if we were sent in there, we would know if the guns were on._ "

Jaune scowled. "They were off. Someone must have turned them back on."

JWRY exchanged knowing glances.

"Mercury?" Ruby asked.

"Mercury."

With a lurch, the bulkhead turned around, and four hunters in training leaped onto the platform. Flynt approached quickly, surrounded by Neon and two unfamiliar faces.

"Lets take care of introductions. Kane, Ivory." he gestured to his two team mates, one with black hair and the other with silver, one carrying a disco-ball flail and the other what appeared to light sticks filled with dust. FNKI had weird weapons, but they were always formidable. "Team JWRY".

Jaune nodded abruptly. "How much time do we have?"

"Five minutes. The bulkhead took a beating and it's running low on fuel. If we don't take out those guns, we aren't getting out of here."

"Why did you come down, then?"

Neon interjected herself into the leaders' conversation. "Because it was so boring up there. We've been stuck in the air for hours playing C&C while you guys have all the fun."

Jaune cocked his head and pointed to the myriad bandages covering his body. "It's been riveting."

Ruby, meanwhile, had rushed behind them to the center control panel. " I've got this. We disabled it even when we had to sneak past all those guards, and we can do it again!" She manically reached for the keyboard as Jaune frantically grabbed her.

"Don't touch that!"

"Why n-" Ruby began, before a deafening blast filled the room. Jaune had pulled the petite girl back just in time, her aura shielding both of them from the worst of the blast. The remainder of the squad were also knocked back, stunned.

"What the hell was that!" Yang yelled, frantically looking her sister over for injuries.

"Mercury rigged the console to blow after switching it back on." Jaune said, brushing off more debris and feeling the new singes on his abused jacket. " He knew we'd try and turn the AA's off."

As the group shook of the shrapnel and regained their balance, Kane asked the obvious question.

"How did you know he would do that?"

Jaune shrugged nonchalantly. "It's what I would do."

The group remained silent for a moment, before Flynt broke the tension.

"Remind me to never piss you off."

Jaune's lips cracked upward sardonically ."Sure thing."

"So what now?" One of Flynt's team mates, Ivory, asked.

"Now we have to split up." Jaune began reluctantly. "There are two AA guns, about 100 yards apart, on the East and West sides of the hangar. Weiss and Ruby will take the east, Ivory and Kane can take the West."

Those were the players he assumed could deal out the most destructive damage at the moment. Yang could cause quite an impressive explosion when she wasn't bone dry , but Aura exhaustion tended to limit your options. Flynt and Neon seemed to be more suited to man to man combat than unbridled destruction. Kane and Ivory... well, he couldn't be sure about them, but they looked the part.

The assembly broke as the respective partners went off to do their jobs, KI with a respectful nod, WR with a grimace and a grin. Every foot they spread apart made Jaune more nervous.

"What are we supposed to do? Stand around! I'm sick of doing nothing." Neon moaned.

"Yes."Jaune said.

"You don't seem to happy about this." Flynt noted.

"What clued you in?" Jaune asked, perplexed. He had hoped he wasn't _that_ easy to read.

"Oh, I dunno," Neon began, "maybe the paranoid flitting of you eyes across the entire hangar, the look on your face that screams 'we're going to die!', and the fact that every muscle in your body is as taut as a rope that's about to snap."

Yang chuckled. "So? This is Vomit Boy's resting expression." Neon's eyes widened.

"Vomit boy?"

Flynt sent Neon a look that begged 'Don't ask', so of course she did.

"It's a joke from how we first met."

Neon's tail wagged in delight at that.

"Oh!" she squealed. "That sounds SO romantic."

Flynt sent Neon another one of his looks, and if Jaune had to wager it was the 'not all partners are couples, please shut up' face. The detail of that signal was incredible given how little Neon seemed to care about it.

"I barfed all over her shoes." Jaune deadpanned, very happily killing the mood.

That seemed to leave Neon speechless, which was a rare event as far as Flynt was concerned. The blessed, blessed silence lasted for several precious seconds, the calm before the inevitable storm. 1...2...3...4..

" AND YOU'RE STILL ALIVE? HOW? YOU SHOULD BE SIX FEET UNDER BY NOW!" she shouted incredulously. If Flynt had so much as touched her skates when they first met he would be bloody paste under the Atlas sewers.

A look of sadness flashed briefly across Jaune's face, followed by a red glint in Yang's eyes, and if Flynt had to wager, this was a sore spot for them, and a can of worms he did not want to open.

He tugged on Neon's tail, paralyzing the faunus and ending what was becoming a very painful conversation.

"You were saying, Jaune?" He asked hopefully.

" I wanted to say," he started " that Mercury's probably going to attack us."

Jaune pointed to two small airships, simple to pilot and built to carry no more than 2 men, each about 15 feet away from them. "If he can't kill us, he at least wants to leave. Setting up the AA would stop reinforcements from arriving, and hopefully kill whoever tried to disarm the console, but it was also a way to send our attention away from the ships and towards the guns. Once the AA's are offline, he can slip past us and take a ship out of here. At the very least, he's pulled all the heavy hitters away."

"So we split into teams of two and each guard a ship so he can't get away?" Flynt asked.

"Yeah." Jaune turned around again, looking for any signs of blue or grey that would give his opponent away. "I could be paranoid, but my guess is Mercury would rather not walk miles across Grimm infested territory when he could fly."

The territory surrounding the Kingdoms had always been a hotbed of Grimm activity, with the creatures waiting for the might walls to crack just enough for them to crawl in. With the maddening war without rhyme or reason, and dozens of gangs all knowingly or unknowingly serving Salem, and all the suffering that came with it, the situation went from bad to worse. Anyone would be pushing their luck walking around in Mercury's condition.

"Also, Yang and I are both exhausted, which makes us soft targets." Jaune began.

To his surprise, Yang nodded. Funny, she wasn't usually the type to admit that sort of thing.

"So, you want me and Neon to pair up, while you and Flynt cover the other ship."

"Yeah. That way, there isn't an obvious target."

Booms and shudders began to fill the hangar as their team mates laid into the AA guns. The skies would be cleared for flight sooner rather than later.

" We don't have much time, we need to split up now!"

Flynt moved to join Jaune, but in that moment, he released Neon's tail. Furious did not begin to describe her reaction.

"Are you insane?" She yelled, stopping the boy in his tracks. " You know I hate it when people do that, Flynt, my tail's sensitive."

She glared at Yang and Jaune as well, anger spreading out for whatever reason.

"And I heard everything. No way in hell am I partnering up with Vomit Boy or Vomit Girl!"

"Hey!" Yang shouted indignantly "you can't call me that!" ignoring the obvious hypocrisy of that statement.

"Neon, be reasonable!" Flynt began.

" I am being reasonable. What's unreasonable is paralyzing a girl by grabbing her tail when she isn't ready! You know that there are only a handful of circumstances when you can do that, and in public is not one of them!" Neon paused, glaring at the two onlookers. " And if you ever want to do it again, then you and I are sticking together now."

Flynt looked helplessly over at the two blondes.

"Flynt," Yang said dangerously. "Didn't you just say you never wanted to piss Jaune off?"

The boy hesitated, but apparently, when given the choice between and angry Jaune and an angry Neon, he chose Jaune. Seeing the ever calm Flynt Coal dragged away by the tail of his angry ... partner? ... would have been amusing if it didn't significantly increase his chances of dying today.

"That boy is whipped." Yang muttered, getting into position while Jaune looked inside the craft, making sure that Mercury hadn't already slipped inside.

" I know." He replied, rolling his eyes. "Crazy what some guys are willing to do to get some tail."

The joke was punctuated by two very loud bangs and an eager call of "Yes, combat skirts for the win!". The AA's were off line, and their own ship still about two minutes away. Show time.

" Jaune Arc!" Yang called out. "That is _my_ line!" She pouted as if someone had taken her favorite toy right from under her nose."You're stealing my thunder!"

"Well" he drawled, " in times like this, you can either laugh or cry, and weeping right before my inevitable doom sounds very bad right now." He slumped against the metal of the fuselage, knowing that if Mercury was ever going to make his move, it would be now.

"I really have been a bad influ-"

Whatever Yang was going to say was drowned out by the high pitch whine of a rocket propelled grenade slamming right into Flynt and Neon's airship, right in the fuel tank. The explosion probably wouldn't kill them, full aura was useful like that, but it would certainly keep them out of the game long enough for the assassin to escape. Which meant his new target was them. 'Wonderful'.

A blue blur darted towards them, faster than either could easily make out. Yang fired twice, each shot connecting but not having any effect on their target. 'Of course his aura's back.' Jaune thought angrily. 'Because everything that can go wrong will.'

Once the gap between them was closed, Mercury shot out a jet of wind from his legs, harsh enough to cut through flesh. Jaune couldn't blame him for targeting Yang first, who at this point was obviously the bigger threat. He didn't care if Mercury blamed him for pushing her out of the way. The man would have to be happy with punching a hole through his abdomen instead.

Pain rushed through every cell in his body, but it was a strange kind of pain, so potent and all consuming that it became abstract, as if he were merely an observer rather than the recipient. Time around him seemed to crawl to a stop. For what seemed like an eternity he stared into Yang's eyes, pretty face marred by a look of shock and horror. 'Not the worst view if you've got to die' he thought dully, before his body spun around from the impact to face the decidedly less pleasant visage of his would be killer.

Mercury's leg was still extended, traces of wind emanating from what must have been a hell of a round house kick, and a very satisfied smirk coloring his face as he basked in his victory, and invulnerability. Jaune felt the heavy weight of Crocea Mors at his hip, and the pistol in his palm. Normally he couldn't hit anything with a gun, but at point blank range, and when he had so much time to line up the shot...

He didn't hear the round so much as see it. He saw the nearly imperceptible widening of Mercury's eyes before the shot slammed right between them, taking the assassin down to the floor with the final blow. He hit the ground first, of course, and could only stare at the ceiling, but he could rest easy. It was done.

'The sky is a lovely shade of blue today' he thought dimly, the previous clarity fading out. '...Lilac, with a golden sun.' His dull eyes met two lilac orbs, and it started to rain. 'Funny' he tried to make sense of the growing blur in front of him, ' I've never seen her cry before.' He felt hands, one warm and one cool, clutching his stomach, trying to stop the bleeding, probably.

'It's almost dusk', he thought, the sky contorting with pink lips desperately mouthing his name. From the corner of his eye he saw a rush of cloudy white as the red cloak of evening crept towards him, and the crack of thunder that sounded eerily like them calling out to him. Then everything changed. He wasn't team leader of JWRY, behind enemy lines. He was lying in a sleeping bag in the forests of Anima, co-leader of team RNJR, with Ren holding a solemn vigil. Nora, lazy as a sloth, curled up next to an exhausted an even more innocent Ruby Rose.

Then he was back at Beacon, with the clock by his bed reading well past midnight as he lay there, body aching from a grueling day of training. His only consolation was a beaming green gaze that met his own. 'You've done well Jaune' she said, emerald pools brimming with pride. 'Now get some well earned rest. We've got a busy day tomorrow.' Rest, that sounded nice. A chance to catch his breath before dealing with the coming pains of tomorrow. 'Goodnight Pyrrha', he thought, as for the second time that day, everything faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2

When Jaune came to, he saw nothing but white. Bright lights flashed in his eyes, and blank, sterile surfaces surrounded him. The vestiges of his dream, an echo of a Juniper tree on the Nikos estate with red, pink and green sashes tied across its branches, flitted across his vision. The yellow sash, the one all his friends knew to place should anything happen, was conspicuously absent.

'Still alive then.' he figured, 'that's nice.' As soon as he was sure he hadn't died his body decided to make him wish he had. His back felt like it was on fire, as if it had been rammed by a tornado, which in a way, he supposed it had. His limbs lay leaden by his side, and his throat was unbearably dry. A thin, greyed man with a clipboard noticed him and walked over.

"You're awake." He said dryly. "I'll inform your team mates. Stay put." And with that, the doctor, or nurse, he couldn't be sure, rushed off to tend to the other wounded. Jaune had been fortunate enough to only be an occasional visitor, but he recognized the field hospital outside of Haven. The center was as deep in Atlesian protected territory as one could get, where the wounded warriors of Ironwood's army were tended to in safety. The smell of soap and steel permeated every corner of the building, and filling Jaune's nostrils with a less than pleasant aroma.

"I'm not going anywhere." He croaked out, resolving to ask for water as soon as possible. He lifted his head up and managed to raise his body enough to prop it up against the pillows. At the door to his ward he spotted two guards. He desperately tried to signal them, but both were absorbed in what had to be latest army gossip. He caught a glance of their uniforms and mannerisms. 'Conscripts, Mistrali,'. No Atlesian soldier would slouch like that, or let scuffs on their uniform go unscrubbed outside of battle. The second rate, half hazard weapons and armor should have made that obvious, but that was becoming more common even among the most dedicated of troops. Communications were spotty, and supply lines were running thin.

Ironwood's true tin men were in almost as much demand as the Huntsman, and it was naive of him to expect them here when there were so many more vulnerable locations. 'Of course, _they_ would have noticed me by now.' he thought darkly, continuing to be ignored while the larger soldier bent over, guffawing at his friend's latest joke.

Suddenly, both men straightened and saluted, going silent. A familiar burst of red skipped through the door, not bothering to salute back, shoving a bottle in his face before he had time to think.

"Drink up." Ruby said. " They were going to put an IV in if you didn't wake up soon."

Jaune screwed the cap off and forced himself to take long, slow sips. Ice cold water never tasted this good.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

" A day and a half." Ruby replied quickly. He noticed the dark bags and red rims around her eyes, sure sings of her own exhaustion.

"You gave us a really bad scare, Jaune."

She gave a characteristic smile, looking like a heavy load was off her shoulders. This was in turn replaced with a pout.

" You do realize the only reason I let you be leader was so I wouldn't have to deal with the paper work right?" Ruby said.

"Right... " Jaune replied, grinning at his second in command, understanding. " How many reports did you have to write?"

"Four!" she cried, hiding her hands in her face. " One mission report for team JWRY, because of you, one for FNKI, because Flynt and Neon are both in the hospital too..."

'serves them right' he thought, not daring to interrupt.

"Then I had to do an intel write up for those papers we got for Ironwood." She whined, "which took forever! And then..." she trailed off.

"And then..." he prompted.

" And then I had to write a letter to your family." She said dully. "Just in case... you know."

Jaune sighed, before wincing again from another burst of pain. "It was that bad ?"

Ruby shrugged. " It was touch and go for a while." an involuntary shudder spread through her. " If that blow had landed half an inch further to the right it would have shattered your spine." she said, as neutrally as she could manage.

Then she went back to the faux brightness and pointed out " But you're okay now, right?"

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "Mostly."

Ruby began fiddling with her scroll, unsure how to proceed.

" Alright Ruby." Jaune started, gambling on the best way to cheer her up. "I owe you one for the paperwork. How's a batch of cookies sound?"

The red reaper perked up, considering her options. "Chocolate Chips," she demanded. " and freshly baked. I'll accept nothing less."

Now he had to figure out how to bake while hospitalized. Great.

"Anything good in the intel?"

Jaune wanted to know that putting his team on the line meant something this time, that this wasn't just another wild goose chase.

" A handful of supply depots we didn't know about, and operations that aren't going forward anymore." Ruby replied. She paused then added. " A few people were implicated as traitors, including one of Ironwood's top lieutenants, Thompson." Great. It was Lionheart all over again. Green and pink funeral shrouds flashed before him before he could repress the memory.

" Are we sure they're not false positives?" Jaune thought. It would be right in Salem's playbook to leak a false list of spies, shrouding her true minions while turning friend against friend.

Ruby shook her head. " The rest of the intel was solid. Jaune. Most of them have already confessed and... been dealt with. How're you feeling?" She eagerly switched topics. Everyone knew what happened to traitors in war time. Ruby was too innocent to deal with that. They all used to be. He missed the days when you you didn't look over your shoulder, wondering which of your comrades was going to stab you in the back when you'd least expect it, and all but your closest friends had to be watched.

"About as well as you'd expect, honestly." She nodded sympathetically, before pulling up a nearby chair and taking a seat.

"Getting comfortable?" He asked.

"Why not?" she said testily. " We don't all have nice, comfy beds to lie in."

"Yeah. Nice hard, metallic beds with coarse white sheets. It really is something else. Royal treatment I tell ya." Ruby let out a genuine giggle at his attempt to lie regally, before he tumbled slightly, tangling his sheets even less comfortably around him.

" Where are the others?"

"Weiss is going to drop by with SSN later tonight. She was out with Neptune before you woke up."

Jaune bit back a laugh. "On again. Nice. I almost forgot why they broke up last time. "

"So did they." Ruby replied. " When you look death in the eyes, it tends to put things into perspective."

"Well, " Jaune began " If I'm responsible, then I call dibs on naming the first kid. Jaune Junior, here I come." Both friends broke down laughing at the image of a blue haired Jaune Jr., before calming down.

" And Yang?" He asked.

"To your left." Jaune turned around and saw a sleeping blonde in the cot next to his.

" She passed out after you were stabilized. " Ruby explained. " Physical and emotional exhaustion, apparently. It was easier not to move her."

Yang's aura had been drained too, of course. And she had looked pretty torn up last time he saw her.

Ruby looked down, avoiding his gaze. "She was really worried about you. We all were."

" I can't believe I didn't notice her."

"You've always been pretty oblivious about girls, Jaune."

Jaune groaned. " That was a low blow Rubes. I'm wounded."

"I'll stop saying it when it stops being true." She said in a sing song voice.

"Like you're any better." he muttered.

"Silly Jaune. Why do I need boys when I have Crescent Rose?" She cooed, pulling the bringer of death out from behind her hood and cradling it like a newborn infant.

"How did you get that past security?"

"No one takes my baby away from me!"

Jaune sighed, and turned his attention to the momentarily more sane of the sisters. Yang was tossing and turning next to him, likely dealing with nightmares of her own. The jet black of her prosthetic arm stood out against the white sheets and her own complexion, which was unnaturally pale. By chance, her face turned to face his. She seemed hurt, worried, fragile, and overall very not Yang. Jaune hesitated, before reaching out and grabbing her hand.

'Think happy thoughts' repeated as a mantra, recollecting time spent with his sisters camping outside Shion, messing with Ren in the library, food fights in the cafeteria, and trying to avoid associated melancholy. A thin shimmer of aura slipped through his grasp. For a moment Yang stirred, then was still. A bit of color flushed to her cheeks as her breathing steadied.

Ruby glowed, looking at the seen. "That's so cute! She calmed down when you held hands?"

"Not exactly." Jaune replied, cutting the flow of his already limited reserves. "Friendly aura contact can break someone out of night terrors. Happy thoughts and all that junk, calms them down." He'd learned that trick firsthand from a veteran Huntsman after the Lionheart Incident.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'? It's adorable!" Ruby yelled.

"Keep your voice down, Ruby, she's sleeping."

"She's been sleeping the entire time, I'm not going to wake her up now." Ruby said. She then got up and walked over to her sister's bed, a mischievous smirk spreading across her face. "Boop!" She cried, poking Yang right on the nose. The blonde shifted dangerously, before burying her head into her pillow.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked. "What are you doing?"

"Proving a point." She stuck her tongue out at him, and went on tempting fate. At times his second in command had shown incredible maturity and judgement, forged in the fires of combat .The rest of the time he had a hard time remembering she was closer to 16 than 6.

" Yang and Jauney sitting in a tree" ...

' make that four, actually' he thought despondently.

"K-I-S-S-I-N- EEP!" Ruby screamed as powerful arms instinctively wrapped around her neck, smothering her, and demonstrating once and for all why you should not tickle a sleeping dragon.

The guards outside rushed in to the strange site of an elder sister pseudo-strangling her sibling. Yang's eyes flashed red as they opened, flickering across the room as she loosened her hold.

"Nothing to see here fellas." She told them, the sickeningly sweet tone conveying exactly what would happen if they disagreed.

"They don't pay us enough for this crap." The shorter one said, gesturing to his friend.

The two soldiers backed out the room, muttering about rations and budget cuts.

"Morning Sis!" Yang began.

"... It's almost sun down."

Yang shrugged. "Sun up , sun down. Same difference."

She ruffled her sisters hair, and then remembered the two of them were not alone.

"Hey Vomit boy!" She called, waving with her human hand while her prosthetic kept Ruby in an unbreakable grip. "Still alive?"

'And people think _I'm_ socially awkward.' Jaune thought.

"For the moment, yes."

"Good to know!" She shot up, hoisting her sister with her. "Well, Jaune, old buddy old pal, as nice as this chat has been, I've got a date with a _hot_ shower, and Ruby looks like she needs a nap. See you at dinner!" With that, Yang let go of Ruby's neck, only to swing her over her shoulder like a petulant toddler.

'Help me' Ruby mouthed as she was carried out the room, Jaune silently trying to remind her that he couldn't walk.

Say what you want about Jaune Arc's life, but there was never a dull moment. Now, if he could only reach his scroll...

* * *

It was the little things in life that got to Weiss. The small pleasures that she had taken for granted. She could handle herself on the front lines, up to her waist in Grimm and grime, the sleepless nights, the hissing of gunshots, the dull aches that creeped into every muscle. But waiting in line for whatever slop the canteen was going to feed her after being raised on gourmet meals had never sat right with her.

Not even the prospect of a subpar dinner was as distressing as the people around her, cramped together as they rushed to the metaphorical trough, most of them sweaty and dirty in a half hazard mass, all brushing against her far more than she considered appropriate. Did they have _any_ idea how hard she worked to keep her all white clothes spotless?

Across the mess hall she saw her team mates moving towards the back of a line. What to do? The line they were in was nearly twice as long as hers... but the prospect of a buffer between herself and the moron behind her who could not possibly have bumped into her this many times on accident outweighed any concerns on punctuality. Besides, the longer line probably had more appetizing food. Probably. Hopefully. Definitely.

Committing to her decision, she strode across the cafeteria, ignoring the stares and confused whispers of the Atlesian troops who noticed her.

" _Is that Winter Schnee? I thought she was on the front lines._ "

" _What is she doing here?_ "

" _Things must be getting pretty bad._ "

It took a moment for the crowd to realize that she was not her elder sister, after which they spared her no more than a passing glance. In what seemed like a lifetime past she would have been granted a level of deference just for being from the same family that made their weapons. Now people were far to occupied to care much about the Schnee family name. Winter had maintained her own notoriety for consistently being deployed to the most dangerous sites of conflict, becoming an omen of death even amongst her own men. Weiss had seen very little of her, likely due to Winter pulling strings to keep her sister from the worst of the destruction. Holding the ear of the Supreme Commander had some perks.

Weiss would almost take the suicide missions if she got to see her sister again. Times were dark, and well intentioned or not, the thought of being pushed away by the only real family she had left stung. Her thoughts drifted to Klein, then the rest of her team. 'not quite my only family', she revised, reaching her pseudo-sisters, who appeared to be in a heated discussion.

"I've told you Ruby, it's not happening." Yang stated, mildly irritated at something.

" And I've told you that it is!" Ruby retorted, frustrated at her sister's refusal to hear her out.

" Am I interrupting something?" She asked, turning their attention towards her and ignoring a handful of pointed stares from the people further back in the line.

" Weiss !" Ruby called out. " I need back up!"

" Why ?" Weiss asked, preparing for the worst.

" You need me to help convince Yang that she likes Jaune!"

' _I've made a horrible mistake._ ' She thought, looking longingly at the end of the other line, and the hassle free dinner she had forsaken.

Yang, all things considered, looked rather bored, playing with a strand of her while shooting Weiss a knowing glance.

"She's been at this for over an hour."

"... of course she has." Weiss replied, so inundated with the insanity that she accepted it without question.

"So..." the Ice Queen began, unsure how to proceed. " The dunce is alright then."

" The doctors said there was extensive soft tissue damage. " Yang reported. " Mercury ruptured some of his internal organs and fractured two of his ribs. Considering his aura capacity..." Yang paused briefly, " two weeks bed rest, give or take."

Jaune's healing factor was ungodly. There had to been half a dozen instances where he shook off wounds that would have killed any of them, getting back on his feet in mere days. This was by far the longest he'd been hospitalized.

"How're Sage and Scarlet ?" Yang asked, a teasing smile forming as she waited for an answer.

" I... didn't really talk to them." Weiss admitted. Yang's smile widened.

" Really? But you were just with them." Of course she knew who Weiss had really been talking to, but teasing was much more fun when she was dishing it out.

" That was more of a one on one discussion with Neptune."

" I suppose you didn't talk much with him either."

Weiss' cheeks flushed crimson, refusing to acknowledge that comment one way or another.

Yang laughed. " Oh, to be young and in love." She turned her gaze back to her younger sister. " Leave the teasing to me, Rubes."

Weiss happily moved the discussion back to safer waters.

" What brought this on? Ruby typically doesn't care about this sort of thing."

" She forced my hand!" Ruby replied, silver eyes twitching as her body shook, turning on her sister with all the force she could muster.

" Just like I had to do all Jaune's stupid paperwork, I've had to step in because of your... your..."

"... utter incompetence?" Weiss supplied.

" Yes! What she said! Thank you Weiss."

Yang rolled here eyes, before shifting her attention to the slow inching forward of the line in front of them. "I don't have to listen this anymore."

" As a matter of fact you do!" Ruby replied, for pulling out a small, black notebook and flipping through it's pages, scanning the text until she found the appropriate passage.

" According to Article V subsection thirteen of the JWRY team charter , and I quote, ' In the event of the incapacitation of the team leader, the designated second in command shall assume temporary executive status with all the responsibilities and privileges thereof.' " Ruby quoted, looking immensely self satisfied.

Yang glanced at Weiss. " This is your fault."

" The chain of command seemed like a sensible idea at the time."

Weiss looked defeatedly as she realized they were less than halfway through the queue, bracing herself for a long conversation.

Ruby was looking at her expectantly. " What?"

"You're my back up. Help me out here."

Weiss pinched her temples, flashbacks of pick up lines on par with the worst of Yang's puns and a poorly done serenade zipping through her skull.

" I really do not see the appeal."

Ruby deflated. " Don't make me do this alone." She begged.

Yang tapped her feet lazily, relishing the reprieve while Ruby gathered her thoughts.

"What's the matter sis? Need to back petal?" It took a moment for the pun to sink in, and Ruby groaned.

"Whatever happens," Weiss said, "you deserve it."

"Point number one." Ruby began. "You're always teasing him."

"I tease everyone." Ruby continued, ignoring this obvious point.

" Point number two. People always think you're together -together ."

Yang shook her head. " Ruby, Ruby, Ruby... you do realize there are people who think most partners are together ? It's practically a cliche by now."

"What are you talking about? No one ever said anything about you and Blake being a couple!"

Weiss stiffened and sent Ruby a concerned look, but Yang shrugged them both off.

"Yes, yes they did." Yang pointed out emotionlessly.

Poor, innocent Ruby had no idea of the kind of lurid rumors that went around Beacon about what went on in RWBY's dorm room. Huntsmen in training or not, the students were all hormonal teens with vivid imaginations.

" Okay..." Ruby muttered, losing confidence in her case by the minute. " you really freaked out about him yesterday." That was a point Weiss was willing to grant. The blonde had refused to leave his bedside the entire night, sobbing until she was catatonic. The last time Weiss had seen her before she had crawled back to the barracks the girl looked dead on the inside.

"My best friend was dying in my arms." Yang pointed out, shivering at the memory. " I don't think my reaction was that far past standard."

Ruby deflated, eyes darting back and forth between her team mates as she tried to formulate a response. Weiss looked and saw the line was almost gone. It was almost over, and she could enjoy her sweet second class supplies in peace.

" I like him ?" She said weakly, hoping that would settle the issue. Yang grinned and rubbed her sisters hair.

"Ruby, that's not how dating works." Yang said cheekily. " You date people you like, not me."

Ruby stammered for a moment, obviously thrown off balance.

" Not like like, like, older brother like!"

Weiss blinked. " I don't follow."

Yang's grin had returned full force, and she was fully in her element.

"Ruby, you have a brother complex? I never would have guessed."

Her younger sister began to protest before giving it up as a bad job.

"Dang it Yang." she muttered, slouching over in defeat.

"Never challenge the master, kiddo." Yang said, placing a conciliatory hand on her sister's shoulder. Ruby shook it off defiantly, sending her a pitiful glare.

" All I want is final say on who my in-laws are. Is that to much to ask?"

Yang tilted her head back in mock contemplation.

"No, it's not." She replied. " But there's one detail you haven't brought up. One fatal flaw in your plan."

"And that is?" Ruby asked.

"Yang Arc," she began, "sounds really weird."

"So you've considered it!" Ruby retaliated, desperate to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

"Look at that, " Weiss interjected, " we're at the front of the line."

The clerk was giving all of them an annoyed look. "Are you going to pick up your food today ?" He asked.

Yang slammed her fists on the counter playfully and leaned over the counter. "As a matter of fact, yes. Four orders of today's special to go please."

"This ain't a god damn restaurant, Blondie." He replied, unamused. " One meal per person, for here, no exceptions."

"Not a problem." Yang said. They could carry an extra tray out of the mess hall and no one was going to stop them. " We just need one for a friend of ours who can't make it."

"Prove it." Yang sighed. She was dealing with one of those types.

"Ruby, give me Jaune's ration card." She extended her palm out, waiting for the cheap plastic to fall right into her hands.

It didn't. " I... don't have it." Yang's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean you don't have it?"

"I mean I didn't have time to get it. You hauled me out of the room." That was a fair point.

"Listen ladies," the clerk said. " Are you going to take your food or am I going to have a situation?"

" Just get your supervisor." Weiss ordered. Whether on her whim or his own volition, the clerk went off, cursing about entitled brats. The soldiers behind them groaned, but none were willing to step forward and challenge even partly trained huntsmen.

" Everyone calm down." Weiss started. " The hospital staff will just get him something instead. No need to make an incident."

" No they won't." Ruby said. " I told them I'd take care of it."

" Why would you do that?!"

" Because I was going to!" Ruby cried out. " If someone just respected the acting team leader's authority we wouldn't be in this mess."

" It doesn't matter. We can't let Jaune starve." Yang pointed out. "We'll have to work out something." Rations were tight, but not so tight that anyone would notice one missing plate. Getting caught would halve their own meals for a week, but it was worth the risk. They owed him that much.

"Did you say Jaune?" A grizzled voice asked. WRY turned to see a crippled veteran, with an eye patch and an old, prosthetic leg, looking them over with his good eye, a classic Atlesian dress uniform pressed and clean. This must be quartermaster they had just been conspiring to steal from.

"Yes." Yang said slowly.

"You wouldn't happen to mean Jaune Arc, would you? The same Jaune Arc who shot Mercury Black in the head yesterday?"

"The one and only." Yang replied, relieved.

"They're telling the truth Davis." The old man said. " I heard the scuttlebutt in the officer's lounge. We've got some paper bags lying around." He paused. " And tell the chef to whip up something special for the fourth meal. We can't let our conquering hero go hungry now, can we?"

This time the clerk, Davis, went away with out complaint. The quartermaster turned back to the girls.

" It'll be here in a minute." He said. "In the meantime," he drawled meaningfully, " if you wouldn't mind moving out of the way. There are other people in line." The group acquiesced, to the joy of a few platoons of grunts.

" Sir, if you don't mind me asking," Weiss began " how do you know Mercury?"

The man scowled, visage darkening considerably. "Let's just say I have good reason to be glad he's pushing up daisies." Davis returned, handing off 4 brown doggie bags, one filled a bit more than the others.

"You tell your squad leader if he ever needs a favor, all he has to do is ask."

The trio hurried out of the mess hall, suddenly very aware of the myriad of gazes surrounding their odd exchange. They kept silent until they reached the relative safety of the staircase leading to the wards.

" Well," Weiss began, " that was informative."

" I know !' Yang chuckled. " Jaune Arc killed Mercury Black? Who saw that one coming?" She had to bite her lip to hold back uncontrollable laughter. " Vomit boy is our resident badass!"

Ruby peeked at the large bag in Yang's metal had.

" What'd they give him Yang ?" She asked curiously.

Weiss scoffed." Probably an extra helping of the same slop they gave us."

"Hey!" Ruby said testily, " The battle against the enemies of mankind starts in the kitchen, and the meals we get are the back bone in the war of nutrition."

"Keep the party line to yourself, Ruby." Weiss complained. "No one else buys it." Weiss opened her own bag. ' An apple, a carton of milk, graham crackers and a container of meatloaf. That's not... horrible.'

Meanwhile, Yang hand done the same with Jaune's bag. Closing it only egged on Ruby.

"Tell me what it was." She ordered, practically bouncing off the stairs.

" No." Ruby pouted.

" Yang ! Article V Subsection Thirteen !"

Yang smirked, unfazed. " I'm calling spousal privilege."

Weiss groaned. " Do not get her started again."

" Why not?" Ruby started. " No one's going to hold it against her. Pyrrha wouldn't-" Ruby cut herself off two words too late.

All three of them went still. For a moment it appeared that each was afraid to make the next move. Then Ruby yelped, pulling her free hand off the stairway rail, which was red hot from Yang's grip.

She glanced upwards apologetically as Yang let go of the bar.

" You okay, Ruby?" She said, anger buried beneath a veneer of civility. " You really went off the rails just now."

" Yang, I..."

" Just drop it."

Ruby's head fell, downcast, before turning back up, silver eyes free from mirth and filled with the steely determination of necessity, and an expression on her face that made her look twice her age.

" Look, maybe I've been going about this the wrong way." She locked eyes with with her sister, before continuing. " What I'm really trying to say is this. I don't know if there's anything going one between you and Jaune. It's none of my business and I know that. I do know that the two of you have gotten close lately, very close even."

"We all saw what happened yesterday." She paused. " We go back on missions tomorrow, and I really, really don't want you to leave anything unsaid that shouldn't be."

Yang's face softened as her eyes faded back to blue. She set down the singed bags, walked down the stairs and pulled her sister into a bear hug.

" Listen to me Ruby." She croaked. "What happened yesterday was just another close call. We've gotten through plenty of those." A small smile graced her face as she pulled back out to meet her baby sister's gaze. " Jaune is staying right here, safe and in bed until he's good and healed, and there's no Grimm alive that can tangle with us."

That's all Yang had to worry about, really. Ironwood wasn't enough of a fool to send them on any kind of covert ops with their team a man short and their premier tactician out of commission. He'd more than likely put them on clean up duty, beating back the latest incursions of monsters into Mistrali territory. Maybe if they were lucky they'd even get a light day of police work, or guard duty for some over rated dignitary.

"In two weeks time JWRY will be back on it's feet and we can all forget this ever happened."

Ruby didn't return her smile.

" No, it won't."

Yang cocked her head dangerously. " Why not?"

" Because in two weeks we're not going to be here." Ruby pulled out her scroll, mission stats at the ready. " Transfer orders straight from General Ironwood himself. We ship out for Menagerie tomorrow at sunset."

"Why?" Weiss cut in. Mistral was still beset on all sides, and the abundance of huntsmen was not what it used to be.

" Civil war." Ruby said drearily. " The White Fang has been trying to take over the island for months. Loyalists to Chieftain Belladonna have held most of the settlement, but they can't hold out for much longer. Not alone." Menagerie was out of the way and lacking in most crucial resources, save for labor and some agricultural products. Losing either to Salem would still take the situation from worse to nightmarish, and it would demoralize Faunus across the planet.

" Why us?" Yang asked, the name Belladonna not escaping her notice.

" The Faunus have requested support from a handful of teams they've deemed trustworthy. We made the cut."

" Well they can't have us." Yang barked. " Unless Ironwood hasn't screwed his head back on lately, he should know JWRY is unavailable at the moment."

" They didn't ask for Team JWRY, Yang." Ruby breathed out, lower than a whisper, loaded with hints of pain and nostalgia as her sister slowly caught on.

" They asked for Team RWBY."


	3. Chapter 3

"Is that so?" Yang muttered, features contorting into an unreadable mask. Ruby wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

" So she's been at Menagerie this whole time?" Weiss asked.

" Probably." Ruby replied. " If that's where her family is, it makes sense." Ruby hated that she had to speculate, but the mission specs had been frustratingly short.

"All we know is she's there now, and she's waiting for us."

" How did she find us?" Yang asked, betraying only scientific curiosity. The CCCT had been knocked out during the Fall of Beacon and hadn't been back up since. Cross continental communication and transport had been spotty at best, and save for the odd freighter, no one in any of the Kingdoms had real proof that any of the others were still standing. Only the top brass of the Atlesian Army had any access to intel reports on who was where.

" She didn't." Ruby stated. " Chieftain Belladonna made a list with input from the Huntsmen under his command. He asked for loyal Faunus and any team mates they were willing to vouch for. Ironwood took care of the rest."

" And she vouched for us." Yang concluded. " That was stupid of her, really." She scoffed. "She hasn't seen us in over a year. We could be treasonous, raving human supremacists for all she knows."

"Yang." Ruby reprimanded, " Blake knows us better than that."

"I find that hard to believe," Yang said dryly " because it turns out that I didn't know her."

" For Dusts' sake Yang! Stop acting like a child!" Weiss said " We have our orders."

If Weiss was trying to defuse the situation, she was failing miserably. Yang's posture went from cutting mockery to full blown open hostility as her Aura began to flare around her.

" She bailed on us! She's been off the grid since Beacon, and now we're supposed to just drop everything and fly halfway across the world on a moments notice?"

Sparks of flame brushed against flakes of snow as tempers rose on both sides. Ruby placed herself between the two of them before things could escalate any further. Weiss shot her an icy stare before stepping back. Ruby turned to her sister desperately.

"Yang, " she pleaded. "she was our friend. Yours more than anyones." A soft look of remembrance passed between the sisters." Don't you to see her again? For old times sake?"

Yang's resolve cracked for the briefest of moments. " Yeah... I do." She confessed, sighing as the fire left her eyes. For the same reason she had spent so much of her life trying to track down her mother. If only to find out why, she wanted to see her again." But I'm not willing to abandon a friend to do it."

The conversation came to a halt as that line sank in. Weiss turned to Ruby, and they both nodded in understanding. They had almost forgotten about the implications this sort of thing would have, for Yang especially.

"This isn't about Blake, is it." Ruby said, more of a statement that a question.

"No." Yang said. " It stopped being about Blake the minute she left." Yang paused, hand rubbing over the metallic joints of her right arm.

"Ruby, did Blake trek across a continent with you, and carry Qrow for days in Grimm infested territory? Is Blake the one who helped track down Weiss's sister right after losing everything? Is Blake lying in a hospital bed right now because she took a hit that was supposed to kill me?!"

"Yang." Ruby said. " I know, but..."

" But what?!" Yang yelled. "I am not my partner! I'm not my mother! I don't think it's okay to abandon people, especially when they're lying bleeding and broken in a war torn hell hole!"

"They're orders." Weiss pointed out. "You don't have a choice."

"Like hell I don't." Yang growled, voice barely audible but carrying a silent fury harsher than any battle cry. " I'm not one of Ironwood's drones. I'm a Huntress, a free agent. A volunteer." Each word felt like it was coated with flames. "They can't make me do anything."

Weiss shook her head condescendingly, as if she couldn't believe anyone could so profoundly miss the point.

"Yes Yang," she said, " You are a volunteer. And the Kingdom of Atlas greatly appreciates all of your voluntary service. But if you aren't going to follow orders than you might as well volunteer to leave."

The blonde brawler grimaced, understanding hitting her like a blow to the head. Disobeying orders meant expulsion from Ironwoods forces, and immediate revocation of all the access and privileges that came with it. No more access to the barracks, or the hospital, no airships back to Vale, and next to no contact with her team. No RWBY, no JWRY, no Jaune.

" Damn it all." she whispered, helplessly. She didn't feel like a huntress anymore, ready to take on the world. She was a child, trapped with a wheelbarrow and a toddler and surrounded by monsters on all sides. No one was coming to save her this time. There was no way out.

"Come on." Ruby said. " Dinner's getting cold."

Yang slammed her fist into the nearest wall, leaving a dent the size of a human fist in the concrete. Then, without a word, she bent over and picked up the bags, trying not to singe them any more than she already had.

The group walked up in silence, advancing up each flight while trying to maintain the uneasy peace. '3rd floor, 4th floor, 5th floor, 6th floor' Yang counted absentmindedly. Finally the trio reached the 7th floor entrance.

" Who else is coming?" Weiss asked, as they opened the door and made their way into the hall.

" About half dozen teams." Ruby answered. " I think CFVY is being transferred from Vale. SSSN is getting back together again too."

"Great." Yang said. " So we're taking all his friends. That's just wonderful."

Before the group could really dwell on that insight, they had reached ward 712.

" Evening girls." The one of the guards said. "Here to see Arc?"

Yang pushed past them without a second glance and opened the door.

Ruby gave them an apologetic glance and followed after her. Weiss answered with a curt nod, slipping in last.

The larger guard turned to the smaller guard as the door slammed shut.

"What was that all about?"

When they arrived, Jaune was flipping through an old issue of X-ray and Vav, thoroughly engrossed.

"Hey." He said calmly, skimming to the end of the page before setting the comic down. "You guy's just missed SSN." He gestured to the table beside him, covered with comic books, games and trinkets. " They dropped off some old stuff from their dorm room, like Scarlett's comic book collection, to help me pass the time." He explained. "Said something about not needing it anymore."

Yang gingerly set down his bag on his bed, before taking the seat at the table furthest from him, not daring to meet his eye.

"Thanks." Jaune looked at the others as they took the other seats. " I hope they didn't give you guys to much trouble at the mess hall."

"Nothing major." Ruby replied, " Turns out the Quartermaster is a big fan of yours."

Jaune opened his bag curiously, jaw nearly dropping. " That's a bit of an understatement."

Ruby didn't press for details as he emptied the contents of the bag, meal seemingly identical to theirs save for one item, which was left hidden and untouched.

The group picked at their food listlessly for ten minutes before Weiss decided to speak. "Arc, " she began, " listen. There's something you need to know."

"If it's about Menagerie." Jaune interrupted " I already know. Neptune told me everything."

Ruby groaned, somewhere between surprised, betrayed, and relieved. "Of course he did."

Weiss glanced at Yang, who was violently stabbing her meatloaf with her fork, refusing to participate in the conversation they all badly needed to have. Naturally, she picked up her team mates' slack.

" Are you going to be alright ?" She asked.

For the briefest of moments he hesitated, before donning a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Of course. What's there to be upset about? RWBY is getting back together again." He trailed off. " It's almost like the good old days again."

" What are you going to do?" Ruby asked. Jaune chuckled mirthlessly.

" After I get out of the hospital? I'm sure Ironwood will keep me busy." Jaune had been spending a good deal of his free time as team leader reading various reports on the state of the war, and he had to say the situation was Grimm. 'Damn it Yang.' He thought, realizing the extent to which his partner had gotten into his head. He frowned slightly, as he remembered that in less than a day the inner monologue of puns would be all he had left of her.

For the past few months the walls of Mistral had been pounded by juvenile Grimm and Salem's useful idiots, and the populace had fallen into an increasing state of panic. Manpower and morale were at an all time low, and the city was practically leaking negative emotions. Ancient, evil, powerful creatures were know being sighted on the Kingdom's periphery, prodding at it's defense until they found a chink in the armor.

" Until then, " he said " I'll just try to kick back, relax, and not die of boredom."

" Who knows?" Ruby said. " Maybe you can catch a flight to Menagerie one you're feeling better? Then the gang really will be back together."

Jaune shook his head. "Ruby." He said quietly. " The Faunus had very specific guidelines for the personnel they wanted. I'm not it."

" Come on Jaune." Ruby replied. " You're exactly the type of guy they want. I know you weren't technically team mates, but Blake, Velvet or even Sun would vouch for you in a heart beat. RWBY and JNPR were practically one big team anyway, so I'm sure Ironwood can let them know that they can make a small exception."

" He won't." Jaune said.

"Why not?" Ruby demanded.

"Because he needs every man he can get."

" So does Menagerie!" She stated angrily.

" And that's the problem." Jaune pointed out. " We're under siege everywhere, on all sides. There aren't enough Hunters to go around. Ironwood's caught between a rock and a hard place."

Ruby opened her mouth, ready to fire off another salvo of retorts, before Weiss cut her off.

"He's right." Ruby glared angrily at her partner, but a stern look convinced her to let the ex-heiress continue. " Ironwood can't be seen abandoning Menagerie. But under no circumstances can he lose Mistral. He'll send Belladonna every Huntsman he asked for, but not one more."

" Ruthless calculus." Jaune murmured. The same logic was growing stronger with each passing day. The arithmetic of human lives where a handful of leaders had to decide which villages had to be held, and which were to be left at the mercies of the darkness, where Huntsmen and soldiers would be sent to die and where they would flee to save other, more valuable prizes. The outlying territories were beginning to look like an ocean of Kuroyuris, ghost towns or graveyards, as the strongholds were packed with refugees fleeing the coming night.

" You might want to consider getting some upgrades, then." Ruby said. "If you're going up against an army of darkness, the least you can do is stock up on some awesome weapons." Ruby took out a notepad and began scribbling notes, recommendations, blacksmiths to visit. "Maybe I can even finally convince you to get a gun."

Jaune chuckled. " Thanks but no thanks Rubes." The memory of yesterday's firefight, with only one round connecting out of dozens, was still fresh in his mind. " I've always been more of a classics kind of guy."

"Alright then, Mr. Strategist." Ruby pouted. "I'm so sorry you can't see the obvious tactical benefits of a projectile weapon, especially when one just saved your stupid butt."

" Ok, I'm an idiot." Jaune conceded. " How exactly am I supposed to pay for all these little upgrades, anyway?"

" Probably with the reward for Mercury." Weiss said.

"Really?" Jaune asked. " I don't think most stores take ' the sincere goodwill of the Free People of Remnant'."

Yang almost laughed at that line, barely catching herself before slipping back into a careful poker face.

" I'm talking about the actual bounty, you dunce." Weiss snapped. " Something to the tune of 50,000 lien." Jaune let out a long, low whistle. That kind of sum wasn't something to scoff at.

" Mercury really got someone's undies in a twist." Jaune said dully.

" After two dozen suspected hits on Alliance forces, they're definitely lowballing it." Weiss said. "Still, congratulations. I'm sure you'll put it to good use."

"Take these." Ruby said, shoving the notepad into his hands. " Consider them a ... goodbye present. From team JWRY."

Jaune let out a smile, a full, genuine smile, and then reached into his bag. " I can't have you three walking away empty handed, either ." He pulled out a small white box, and opened it to reveal a round strawberry shortcake.

Ruby and Weiss started slightly while Yang remained stoic. Rations were tight, but on rare occasions the officers allowed themselves to indulge. There were whispers amongst the grunts about the goodies that were kept stashed in the back room, some reaching almost mythical status. The rumors were true, apparently.

Ruby's mouth watered at the aroma and she involuntarily reached for the the box, before stopping herself. "Jaune... we can't take this."

" We'll share it. " Jaune said. " Obviously."

"Jaune..."

" You don't expect me to eat this whole thing alone, do you?" Jaune teased. " In my condition?". His eyes softened slightly. " One last hurrah. For JWRY."

Everyone grew still for a moment, before Ruby gave in. " Alright Jaune. For JWRY."

Ruby did the honors of cutting the cake, moving the knife with almost surgical precision until it was cut into four perfect pieces.

" Before we eat," Weiss said. " would anyone like to share any favorite memories? It is the last hurrah, after all."

Ruby and Jaune both grinned at that, and even Yang perked up, if only a little.

" You first, Weiss." Ruby said.

Weiss paused in thought. " Right after the siege of Windpath, when we punched through the horde of Grimm to relieve the 5th legion." Of course. Winter had been in command of the 5th legion, and any hope of escape was fading fast. Riding in to save the day had been a point of pride for Weiss ever since.

" Our first mission debriefing." Ruby giggled. " The look on Ironwood's face was priceless."

"Alluvian Heights." Yang whispered. Weiss stared at her like she had grown a second head, before she clarified. " Right after the blast, when I got Vomit Boy to crack his first pun."

"Of course." Weiss groaned. Ruby smiled. That was the first time Yang laughed since Beacon. It had been the first time Jaune had laughed too, since...

" Seconded." Jaune said, sharing a small smile with his partner. " That really was a Jaune of a kind moment."

Yang's eyes widened. Then, to everyone's surprise, she began to snicker. That snickering grew into an uncontrollable flow of laughter, tears streaming down her face.

Weiss looked from Ruby to Yang and then back to Ruby, unsure whether to be relieved or disturbed by the blonde's seeming breakdown. Ruby gave her a reassuring glance as Yang wiped the water from her eyes.

" Oh how the tables have turned." She forced out as she tried to bring herself under control.

Jaune smirked. " I learned from the best."

Weiss uttered something that sounded suspiciously similar to 'morons' but left it at that. Jaune raised his fork, and his team mirrored his movements.

" To JWRY." He said solemnly.

For a moment, Yang considered smashing the slice of cake into pieces. Taking a bite was tantamount to closing the eyes on a fallen comrade, an admission that it really was all over. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not when everyone was looking at her expectantly. Not in front of him.

She shoveled half her slice into her mouth, taking it down in one gulp. It was the best thing she had tasted in months.

* * *

An hour after dinner, Ruby and Weiss had both finished their goodbyes and headed back to the barracks, to pack and prepare for the upcoming journey.

Yang had stayed, glancing over the contents of the table, while Jaune flipped through an old looking tome, enjoying the quiet camaraderie.

"You do realize that these issues are out of order. " She pointed out. The pile was composed of X-ray and Vav, volumes 1,2,4 and 5, skipping over stories that never would be told.

"Beggars can't be choosers." Jaune replied. " Besides, Sage gave me something a bit more comprehensive."

"And what would that be?" She asked, eyeing the title of the book.

" A collection of fairy tales." He said. " Might as well try and keep up with them, considering one might be the next bombshell they drop on us."

Yang chortled. " Alright. Enjoy your research." Her eyes darted to the door, before Ruby's words echoed in her head. 'I don't want you to leave anything unsaid.' Her fists clenched as she bit her lip, steeling himself.

"Jaune..." She trailed meaningfully. " There's something we need to talk about."

"What?" He asked curiously, placing the book down on the table to give her his full attention.

Yang paused for several moments, before weakly responding. " Are you really going to be alright?" She shifted nervously. "On your own, I mean."

" I'll make do somehow." Jaune answered. " Besides, it's not like I'll be completely alone." He would still have Winter and Qrow, both of whom he hardly ever saw, and who associated with him vicariously. And the Nikos family, whom he could hardly exchange a dozen words with at any given time. Turns out ' I almost dated your daughter before she died horribly' wasn't the greatest basis for a deep relationship. At least they didn't ask too many questions whenever he came to pay his respects.

Yang frowned, knowing very well the kind of company Jaune could expect.

Jaune began fiddling with a deck of cards Neptune had left him, the feel of the packages taking his mind off things for a moment. He sighed.

" At the very least, I'll be getting pretty good at solitaire."

This seemed to be the final straw for the blonde, who angrily snatched the pack out his hands, eyes tinged blood red. Faster than his eyes could track, she tore the container open and began shuffling the cards.

" What're you doing?" he asked as she began placing cards in his lap, stopping once each of them was holding seven cards. She set the rest of the deck on the table and plopped down on the chair next to him.

" Got any twos?" she asked.

"What ?"

"Yes or no, Jaune."

" ... go fish."

Yang drew another card, and turned to Jaune expectantly. He decided to humor her.

" I haven't played this game in years." He said, chuckling. " Got any sevens?"

Yang shrugged, before sliding a card between her fingers and flicking it at him.

" Same here." Yang said. " We had to stop playing when Ruby and I were little because Dad kept lying about what cards he had."

"There's one in every family." Jaune chuckled. " I once spent a hell of an afternoon trying to prove that my sister Violet had a jack. Speaking of which..."

Yang laughed, before tossing him another card. " Wow' Vomit Boy. You've really got this card game down in spades."

Jaune rolled his eyes. " I think I've had enough of your puns for one night."

Yang smirked. " Join the club."

Janue's brow furrowed as that last line sunk in.

" For the love of the brothers, please stop." he moaned.

" Don't be like that lady killer." she grinned " You're breaking my heart."

" That last one was a real diamond in the rough, wasn't it?". Yang shook her head, thoroughly unimpressed.

" Leave the puns to the professionals for now, Jaune." She said. " They don't suit you."

"... Damn it Yang." Jaune laughed. He stopped "How are you holding up?"

Yang cocked her head, confused.

" Being alone is going to be rough for me, but going to seeing Blake again has got to feel...complicated."

Yang scoffed. " Go fish."

" Really, Yang?" Jaune said, drawing a card despite his skepticism. " You barely moved for over an hour. Something's bothering you. Tell me."

" Fine." Yang replied tersely. " How's this? Let's bail on this entire thing, you and me." Yang turned her attention to the open window on the far end of the room, gazing, over the half illuminated skyline of Mistral, out beyond the city walls. She added wistfully. " There are hundreds of unprotected villages out on the frontier that would appreciate a pair of Huntsmen dropping in. We could do some real good. At the very least, we'd avoid getting caught up in any more of this political bullshit."

Jaune gave her a long, sad look before softly shaking his head. " Go fish, Yang."

" Why not?" Yang asked angrily. " It's not like we've got much going for us here."

"Because there are some things you can't run away from." Jaune met her gaze unflinchingly, watching unfazed as her eyes flickered from lilac to a murderous red, then back to a soft, purplish blue.

" Look, I know how you feel. I get it." Jaune said. " Your partner left you when you needed her most, running off for reasons you don't understand. Out of duty, or destiny, or temporary insanity, never to be seen again." Jaune's face contorted in pain, clouded by a long born weight on his soul. " Believe me when I say I understand."

" Jaune..."

"There isn't a day that I don't miss her." He continued. " Not a night goes by without me wondering if I were a bit stronger, a bit smarter, or if I just knew how she'd felt, she'd still be here. Maybe Ren and Nora wouldn't have died because the friend they were counting on was too trusting to..." Jaune paused, and he felt metallic fingers link with his own.

" Or maybe," he continued " if Pyrrha had a halfway competent leader, a partner she didn't have to spend hours teaching just to swing a damn sword properly, she might have made it out alive." Jaune let out a dark laugh. " But then maybe Ruby would have never stopped the dragon and none of us would be here. Life's a bitch like that."

Jaune paused and took a deep, hard breath, body going taut, bending the cards in his hand. " I miss them all, I miss them so much. But they're gone. JNPR's gone and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it."

Using his grip on her hand, Jaune pulled his partner a bit closer, keeping his voice loud enough to be heard but low enough that she'd have to really listen.

" But you're not like me." He finished. " You have a chance. A real chance to make things right. Don't throw it away." He stopped, pitifully. "Not for my sake."

As friendly as they were, JWRY had always been a Frankenstein miss-mash of the abortive remains of Beacon. Jaune could never replace Blake. Yang could never replace Pyrrha. Ruby and Weiss would never be a perfect match for Nora and Ren. The holes they made could never be filled by anyone else. Still, after a while, the group had formed their own places in each others hearts. Jaune should have realized that Blake couldn't replace him either.

Yang crumpled back into her chair. " I'm not angry at Blake." She said. " Not really. Not anymore." She looked up at the ceiling, unable to look her fellow blonde in the eye. " For months, all I could do was simmer in my room, furious at her, at Cinder, at the world in general." She sighed, shifting her gaze back down. " But I got over it. I put it all behind me, got back on me feet, and moved forward." Yang got out of her seat and stood straight up, pacing around the bed while gathering her thoughts.

"If Blake had waltzed right in here this morning, I wouldn't have batted an eyelash. I'd have waved and said hello. Maybe even made some small talk, just to be nice."

"But now," she continued. " how am I supposed to trust her again? How am I supposed to just forget everything and be willing to put my life in her hands, after all that's happened?"

'Of course,' she thought bitterly, 'it'll be easier tomorrow, when I've done the exact same thing.'

" I dunno." Jaune said. " But I might have an idea." He scoffed. " It's pretty stupid though."

"I'm all ears." Yang said eagerly. " You've got a hell of a track record."

" Well, " Jaune said. " when I was 7 years old, one of my friends, Jonah, took my favorite toy, a ragged little stuffed version of Pumpkin Pete." Jaune laughed. " I used to carry that little bunny everywhere. I remember how badly some of my older sisters would tease me about it." Yang nodded, smiling slightly at the thought of a mini Jaune, in a onesie, no doubt, being tucked int0 bed with a brown little rabbit.

" Anyway, whenever I tried talking to him about it, he would just get up and walk away. For a while it looked that I had lost my friend and my rabbit. He wouldn't sit with me at lunch or joke around before class started. Mom told me to be patient, but nothing was working."

" What did you do?" Yang asked.

" I punched him." Jaune stated. " One day I just couldn't take it anymore, and I just lashed out. The two of us went at each other like animals, nearly tearing each other's tiny throats out. The entire time he was screaming that he was sick of seeing other kids picking on me, and that I would just stop being such a baby and let the rabbit go, everything could go back to normal." Jaune smiled.

" Half an hour after the teacher broke us up, I had Pete back. I agreed to stop taking him to school and Jonah invited me to his 8th birthday party." Jaune shook is head. "Funny how things turn out sometimes."

Yang stared at him. " You want me to punch her?" She asked. It's not like the idea was totally unappealing, but...

"Metaphorically, of course." Jaune said. "What's important is that you find a way to lay everything out in the open. For weeks the two of us just festered because Jonah refused to talk. Fighting was just a little boy's way of confronting the issue. Even if it doesn't work out, at least you know where everyone stands." Jaune paused, with a sage like look on his face. " It doesn't do anyone any good to leave things unsaid."

Yang stiffened slightly, then moved back down to her chair, anxiously running her fingers through her hair as she inched closer to the bed.

" Practice what you preach, Jaune." She stated. " What do you really think about us leaving?"

" How do you feel?" Jaune asked pointedly. Yang frowned at the pressure flip, before deciding that honesty was the best policy.

" Worthless." she started. " Like I'm lower than scum. Like someone was counting on me and I let them down. That they're hurt badly and never going to get better and it's all my fault." She choked out the last of that sentence, as if the very words burned her tongue.

" And you don't think Blake felt the exactly same way?"

Yang shook her head violently, scowling. " Of course not." She said. " She left, didn't she."

" She did." Jaune said. " But I had to guess, she did it trying to protect you."

Yang's face shone of disbelief. "Hear me out." Jaune said, grasping for her hand as he continued. " Who was on the ground at the Beacon? Before any of us knew anything about Salem, or Cinder, who did we actually see ?"

"The White Fang." Yang answered, flashes of a tall, dark man with a white mask and red hair sending phantom pain up her right arm.

" The same group she was a high ranking member of not 6 months before." Jaune said." She almost certainly felt guilty, and maybe even thought that they were there because of her. Because of that, she ran, despite knowing how much it would hurt you. So you wouldn't be in danger anymore."

" Well, she was dead wrong." Yang said angrily. When was the last time she had nearly died since Blake had decided to 'save' her. Yesterday?

" I never said she wasn't." Jaune said. " All I said was she was trying. She meant well, and I'm sure she still cares about all of you, no matter how many mistakes she's made." Jaune wrapped his hand around hers, moving it playfully into a fist. " So go to Menagerie, do what you do best, and knock the metaphorical sense back into her head." He grinned. " And be sure to send me a letter with all the juicy details."

" You never answered my question." Yang stated. " Why do you seem so okay with this?"

" Why aren't Scarlett, Sage and Neptune more angry at Sun?" Jaune countered.

"That's completely different!" Yang yelled. " He told them where he was going and why he was doing it! They knew he was trailing Blake, and ..." Yang trailed off, comprehension dawning.

" He told them." Jaune stated. " They knew that he wasn't leaving them for fun, or because he was scared, but because he had something really important that he needed to do. That as soon as he was done, he would be right back with them. Even after a year had passed, and they had no way of knowing whether he was alive or dead, they knew if he was still out there he would see them again. They could take comfort in that, no matter how much it hurt." Jaune reached out and wiped a tear stain off his partner's cheek.

"So Yang..." he trailed off. " Got any Queens?" Yang smiled coyly, before taking the card still held in the center of her left hand and revealing the Queen of Hearts.

" Here you go, Lady Killer." She said, before calling it quits." You win." Yang chuckled, packing up the cards, and getting ready to put them back on the desk, before she spotted a white letter, Atlesian priority mail, with a rose stamp. 'From Ruby Rose' it read. ' to the Arc Family.'

"Speaking of letters." She said, Jaune following her gaze.

"That was the one Ruby wrote when she thought I wouldn't make it." Jaune said blankly. " Some officer dropped it off with me before dinner. Wanted to make sure it didn't get sent out on accident." That would have been a nasty shock for his parents, and taken quite a bit of explaining.

"It's been too long since I've written to them." He said dully. His family had always been close, but they hadn't talked much after he snuck his way into Beacon. The war had made the situation worse, of course, with only the odd exchange of mail letting them know he was okay. It'd been months since he'd sent them anything.

" Maybe I'll keep it as a souvenir." He said lightly. " Something to show the family after all this is over, and laugh about it."

Yang had already torn the envelope open and began reading aloud.

' _Dear Mr. and Mrs. Arc,_

 _I'm sorry to tell you_ _\- I regret to inform you - I've tried this twenty times and it won't stop hurting- I regret to inform you that your son, Jaune Arc, was killed in action during the defense of Mistral. I'm sorry I can't say more, but the details are classified and the contents of this letter are unsecured. All I can say is that he died saving the lives of his friends. He was a great warrior and a better friend, and I'm so, so sorry._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Ruby Rose, second in command of volunteer fire team JWRY (Jury), Alliance of Free Peoples, attached to the Atlesian Military, Mistrali Defense Force._

Yang stared at the various words scratched out or illegible from tear stains, quivering.

"I don't think I'll be able to laugh about that for a long, long time." Jaune admitted, tension forming as quickly as it had dissipated.

The pair stared awkwardly at one another as Yang's aura ebbed and flowed, coloring the room as it flickered and faded.

" I'd smack you if you tried." Yang said, haphazardly folding the letter before slamming it into the table. Then she closed the distance between the two of them, pulling up the bottom of his shirt to reveal the thick layer of bandages surrounding the entirety of his waist.

" Do you honestly think there's anything that will ever be funny about this?" She asked pointedly. " Anyone else would be dead right now."

" I can take care of myself, Yang." Jaune said.

" Really?" Yang asked, leaning more of her body over his. " You got this close to dying right in front off me,"

'Because of me' a treacherous corner of her mind whispered. " and you expect me to let you out of my sight?"

Jaune sighed irritably. "What do you want from me, Yang?" That was the million lien question right there, wasn't it. What did she want from Jaune Arc?

" For starters, " she said. " I want you to promise you won't get yourself killed while I'm gone. Arc's word and all that."

Jaune shook his head slightly. " An Arc never goes back on his word," he said, unperturbed by the angry glare Yang was sending him. " and they don't make promises they can't keep."

None of them could predict what was coming. The world was in a state of flux, and as soon as he was able to stand Jaune would be sent to the front lines to face monsters and men who would do everything in their power to kill him. That was part of the job description. Yang, Weiss, and Ruby, and every fighter in the Kingdoms were in the same boat. It was a fools errand to guess who would live and who would die, and that was a cruel truth that needed to be dealt with.

Yang's grip on his shirt tightened until the knuckles on her left hand where pure white. "How can you be so calm about this?" Yang asked. " It's your life we're talking about here! Don't you even care?"

" I like being alive." Jaune whispered. " Even after everything, I still do. But I know what I signed up for, and I'm not going to kid myself about my chances." He paused, looking straight through her eyes and peering into her soul, willing her to understand. " It happens to the best of us."

"No!" Yang said, aura flaring bright gold around her. " You don't get to lie here and play the martyr! You don't get to talk about dying as if it's no big deal, as if it doesn't even matter! Can't you get it through your skull that there are still people who care about you, who love you..." her voice slipped into a soft murmur as she realized the gravity of what she just said." who'll miss you when you're gone." The fire had gone out of her stance as she slumped over him.

" I don't want to fight anymore." She whispered. "Not tonight. Not with you."

Once their mind was cleared from the mist of emotional turmoil the pair of teenagers realized the compromising nature of their position. Yang was practically straddling her fellow blond, their bodies pressed lightly together and their faces inches apart. The red disappeared from Yang's eyes and rushed to her face, and Jaune desperately tried not to notice how endearing that uncharacteristic blush looked, how warm her breath felt against his face and how soft her lips looked in this light, or...'No!,bad, Jaune' he said, cutting off that train of thought before it began to have an effect that his partner was sure to notice, given the current circumstances. 'Think of Ironwood ... damn it Yang... or death stalkers or something.'

Thankfully, 'or not' Yang began slowly lifting herself up, careful to avoid brushing up against his wounds before setting herself on his good side. Jaune moved over as far as he feasibly could given the confines of the bed, the two's body contact no longer being quite so drastic.

The two laid in silence for several minutes, hearts racing. Then Jaune turned, and looked slightly past her. " It really is a beautiful view, isn't it." Yang's eyes widened before she followed his gaze and realized he wasn't looking at her, or rather not just at her, but the window to the city below. A ward on the 7th floor of a building that was already near the top of the Kingdom certainly offered a breath taking view of the city.

To the West, the soft light of the fractured moon shone off the bright marble edifices of the classical structures. Nestled somewhere between the seven hills was the Nikos estate, and the colosseum where Pyrrha had made her name . The distant wind carved cliffs overlooked cerulean sea of Anima, which from afar appeared to be nothing more than a flowing silhouette.

To the East where the matte black mahogany castles and terra cotta temples that blended into the night sky, with bright Neon lights shining from the commercial district. Blending into it all was the verdant landscape of the original mountain at Mistral's core, half city and half garden. In the darkest parts of the city they could make out the small campfires of refugees, huddled in tents and too relieved to be alive to worry about their other circumstances.

All of it was bounded by high walls, steep cliffs and rushing waves, an impenetrable barrier that kept the worst of the world from streaming in. The tenacity of the city's defenders did the rest. The sight before them was a testament to the human will to live, to survive, to carve out a safe haven in a world of nightmares.

" It is." Yang said, observing the cracks in the wall and the growing patches of darkness with the city limits. She turned to Jaune. " It's a shame we didn't appreciate it until it was almost gone."

" Yeah." Jaune said. " But, if we play our cards right, when we're old and grey can shake our heads while people take it for granted all the same."

Yang gave an affirmative yawn, eye's half lidded.

" It's getting late." He looked at the clock placed by his head, and saw it almost midnight. "You should really head back to the barracks, and get some rest."

" Like you said," She began, " it's late, and I'm tired. You don't expect me to walk all that way alone do you?"

" I'm serious, Yang."

Yang chuckled, before leaning back in, displaying some of her, 'assets'. " What's the matter Jaune? Am I making you _uncomfortable_?"

"Of course not." Jaune rolled his eyes. This was more in line with behavior he was used to from his partner. Flirtatious, maybe, and this was definitely pushing the boundaries, even for Yang, but at the end of the day all part of a light hearted game. Nothing that felt quite so serious as... whatever had happened ten minutes prior.

"If a pretty woman wants to keep my bed warm for the night, who am I to kick her out?"

" How chivalrous." Yang said. " Now, stop hogging the blankets."

Yang bit back a laugh as he was forced to maneuver the covers with her on top of them, making no effort to help him. "There." He pouted. " Happy now?"

" Still cold. It'll do, for now." Yang said, activating her aura slightly as warmth enveloped both of them. " So..." she drawled. " got any bedtime stories?"

" You cannot be serious."

" Why not?" She asked.

" Because you need to sleep."

"I'll have plenty of time to sleep on the flight to Menagerie." Most airships in Remnant were built for size and durability, rather than speed, floating through the air using a special type of dust, the details of which few outside the business understood. At cruising speed, it would take abut a week to reach the Faunus stronghold. Time between friends would be far more scarce.

" What do you want to hear?" He asked, accepting his inevitable fate with mock trepidation.

" Well..." Yang trailed off, leaving him in suspense for as long as possible. " You grew up in a house with seven sisters. There's got to be some pretty stellar dirt from that."

" There is." Jaune deadpanned, recalling the sheer amount of embarrassing moments recorded in the family albums. Just the number of times they had forced him into a dress could keep a conversation going for hours. " But do you really expect me to just hand it over?"

" I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Yang said.

Jaune laughed. " I'm going to hold you to that."

And so, they spent the night exchanging stories. Jaune regaled her with tales of a large country estate, brimming with blond children all jockeying for position and two well meaning but exhausted parents. It was an intricate epic of rivalries, shifting alliances, sudden betrayals, cookie breaks and time outs. Yang, for her part, told him about the struggles of keeping a younger, and more hyper Ruby under control, getting Zwei down from an impossibly high tree, and taking care of an extraordinarily hung over uncle.

Gradually the tales shifted to a more somber tone. Jaune talked about the time his youngest sister had a fever they weren't sure she would recover from, and the many sleepless nights that followed. Yang confessed her own near killing of herself and her sister when she first tried to chase after her mother. Jaune shared the patronizing disbelief his family had when he decided to forge his way into Beacon, and follow in his forefathers footsteps. Yang talked about her mother. For hours they went on and on, until the words gradually bled together, and no matter how intently each listened, eventually everything faded into silence.

* * *

When Jaune woke up, it was to the high pitched wail of a ringing scroll. He stirred mournfully. It had been an unusually good night's sleep. In contrast to his semi-frequent nightmares, he vaguely recalled a rather pleasant dream, though the exact details were murky. Something about a house back in Vale, and a handful of blond toddlers running around. His childhood, perhaps?

He shifted, reaching for the table and trying to feel for the scroll so he could toss it into the wall. Groaning in frustration, he opened his eyes to look for it. Bright sunlit streamed into his eyes, blinding him momentarily.

'Well' he thought dejectedly, ' I guess I'm up now.' It really was a shame. The blankets felt much more enticing than they had yesterday. So soft, and warm, and ... gold. With a start his vision cleared, and he suppressed the shout lest he rouse the gorgeous dragon wrapped around him.

Clear as day was none other than Yang Xiao Long, who had obviously never left and was clinging on to him for dear life. Stray strands of golden locks tickled his nose. Her head was buried in his chest, her bosom pressed against his right side and her left arm coiled around his upper back. Her right hand had found his, and her hips and legs had become entangled with his own. Any point where there bodies could feasibly merge, they had, with the sole exception of the left side of his waist. Even in her slumber, she had remembered to avoid it, almost on instinct.

He felt a weight over his left arm, and knew without looking that it had wrapped around her as well, pulling her closer still, hand resting on the small of her back, just below her hair. ' I wonder if she'd be angrier if I moved higher or lower.' He thought, too dazed to quell the lecherous voice in the back of his head that he was always conscious to mute, around her especially.

The screeching tone of the scroll had begun to get to her as well, and she nuzzled deeper into his chest, desperately trying to drown out the interruption of her current bliss. Suddenly Jaune realized consciously that Yang was quite smaller than him, and he felt a primal, potent urge to protect her. Never mind that she was every bit as strong as he was, and that was being a bit generous with his own abilities. The human heart didn't take things like aura augmentation into account.

Finally giving up on escaping the noise, Yang turned her head upwards, and started to open her eyes. Deep indigo and soft lilac pools melded together, and in her half lidded state, she gave him the most radiant, mesmerizing smile he had ever seen.

After months of working together, Jaune could read Yang's face like an open book. She had several, trademarked smiles. The mischievous smirk after telling on of her famed puns, or flustering one of her team mates. The triumphant grin after having taken down a particularly strong enemy. The slight uptick of her lips when one of his own laconic remarks resonated. The softer, warmer smile that was reserved for her closest friends and family when a particularly piece of good news came through. A village saved, a sister who had proved herself stronger than she'd ever imagined, a friend who was still alive, a heartfelt moment shared.

This smile was all of them at once and simultaneously none of them, the likes of which he had never seen. If he were forced to put it into words, he'd describe it as the utmost look of content he'd ever witnessed, as if the person making it would happily stay in the position they were in for all of eternity were they given the choice. It was a gesture he was half aware he was returning.

Then consciousness rushed into both of them and the world came tumbling down. Yang's eyes widened in shock as her mouth fell agape. She looked and felt like a deer in the head lights.

For over a minute, she tried to get her tongue working, and wracked her brain for any quip, any remark, anything at all that could play the moment off as anything more lighthearted than it was.

She couldn't do it. Nothing she could come up with would lessen the intimacy of that look, and it would have been sacrilege to try. Finally, she abandoned the effort entirely and picked up the source of dissonant noise that had started this whole mess.

"Hello?" She asked.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled, voice audible across the entire. " WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

" I..." she trailed off, extracting herself from Jaune before popping out of bed. " I lost track of time, I guess."

" LOST TRACK OF TIME?" She screamed. " IT'S HALF PAST NOON! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE EVERYTHING OUT OF THE BARRACKS THIS MORNING! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WERE WHEN YOU DIDN'T COME BACK!"

" Look, I'm sorry Rubes." Yang said, turning to face the wall and avoiding the all seeing gaze behind her. " It... won't happen again." She forced out, despondent.

"Yang?" Ruby asked, anger being replaced with concern. " Did something happen last night?"

" I'm fine Ruby." Yang lied through her teeth. " I'll see you soon."

Yang hung up the phone, and began straighten out her clothes. Before she moved for the door, the pair's eyes locked again.

" How long?" Jaune asked softly. Yang had always been flirtatious, but she had kicked it up quite a bit recently. He had assumed she was just trying to fluster him, despite his obvious tolerance of it, growing ever bolder with each attempt. Had he really been stupid enough to miss the signs again? 'Typical' he thought bitterly.

"I'm... not sure." Yang answered. " Since last night, at least." She paused, those damned eyes boring into his own. "Does it matter?"

Of course it did. When, in the game of life and loss, had they gone from associates to allies of necessity, to best friends who'd have laid down their lives for the other without second thought to... this. He didn't know, either. Jaune just always seemed to realize this sort of thing right after it would've made a difference.

A suffocating silence enveloped the two of them, as they both realized that this couldn't change anything, and they very well might never see each other again.

" See you at sunset." she said weakly.

" Yeah." He muttered, unable to meet her eyes. " See ya."

Yang rushed out of the room, guards chortling loudly. No doubt they had assumed that the night was far less intimate than it had been.

Jaune gripped the sides of his mattress and suppressed the urge to scream. Why was it always like this? Why did the world drop everything he'd ever wanted in his lap, only to rip it away as soon as he'd gotten used to it, depended on it?

For a brief, dark moment, he considered staying in bed for the rest of the day. Why should he go out of his way for a woman who couldn't even bother to say the words, and who was going halfway across the way of the world for his replacement, for whom he was just a second hand replacement anyway?

The moment passed. He'd regret it for the rest of his life if he passed up an opportunity to see his friends off, to see her one last time, heartbreak be damned. He moved for his own scroll, and asked for a wheelchair.

* * *

The landing strip at the heart of Mistral was largely empty. A handful of workers hauled crates of supplies onto the airship, weapons and material for the forces in Menagerie, but the common citizen had long ago abandoned the place. Flights outside the Kingdom's walls had been few and far between.

Winter had come to say her goodbyes, of course. Weiss was surprised she had slipped it into her monstrous schedule on such short notice, but Winter had brushed of her concerns. "Nothing is more important than family." Weiss felt a rush of warmth at that.

" Now remember, " her sister began. " when pressed in battle, focus. You've almost got complete control of your semblance now, and you're going to need it." She tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear.

" And be sure to stay on your best behavior." Winter ordered. " As far as the Faunus are concerned, the Schnee family name is sullied with blood, so you'll have to make a doubly strong first impression."

" Of course." Weiss nodded. How could her sister expect anything less from her?

" And remember, I'm proud of you." She finished. Weiss beamed. no matter how many times she heard her say it, the words would always brighten her day.

Winter turned to Ruby and Yang. " Your Uncle was deployed too far out to make it, so Ironwood didn't send for him." Her sisters lips curved up in the smallest of smiles. " He's going to be furious."

Weiss's brow furrowed. What ever the nature of the association between her sister and Qrow, she didn't approve. If half of Yang's teasing was accurate, it was too close for comfort. And as much as she loved her team mates, the thought of them all being one, big, neat happy family was disconcerting. Then again, she hadn't failed to notice the sidelong glares Winter had sent Neptune as her wrapped his arm around her, possessively.

' Live and let live, I suppose' she thought contentedly as she leaned into her very much on again boyfriend. She didn't care if Winter fully approved and she'd have to accept that that went both ways.

Scarlett was fiddling nervously with his Flintlock, which, in Weiss's humble opinion, was amongst the worst weapons she had ever seen. Why any civilized person in the modern world would base their equipment on pirates was beyond her. Sage was sitting on a shipping crate, calmly meditating and very much ignoring the rest of the group. Both of Neptune's team mates got on her nerves, but neither was half as infuriating as their shirtless leader, if memory served. 'Play nice, Weiss' she thought. She'd be civil, for Neptune's sake, at the very least, and for Blake's. Regardless of what that girl said, there was something going on there, and even if there wasn't, the monkey faunus was the only person she could ask about the details Blake would inevitably leave out during their re-union. 'The things I do for friends.'

Speaking of recalcitrant friends, Yang had been oddly silent while waiting to depart. Ruby hadn't managed to get any details out of her about whatever had occurred last night, although Weiss was sure it had something to do with their resident failed casanova and team leader. 'Ex-team leader' she reminded herself. Ruby was back in charge now.

"Ten minutes to take off." The captain said over the intercom. " Are you kids going to come aboard?" Yang stood still, unmoving.

" He's not coming, Yang." She said. " He probably couldn't even make it out of the hospital, and even if he could, he wouldn't be able to wheel his way here."

" He's coming." She said simply. " He promised." 'An Arc's word was as good as gold' Weiss recalled, though she couldn't believe that Yang had taken that mantra to heart. 'There's no point in deluding yourself.'

Neptune and Scarlett shared a glance, and Sage muttered " A pity." Jaune would never approach the level of a team mate in their eyes, but he had become a familiar presence. Someone they had liked, and trusted, enough to tinge the excitement of their upcoming reunion with the tiniest drop of melancholy.

Suddenly an Atlesian motor car came in, pulling up in front of them. Gradually the doors opened to reveal an officer in a dress uniform, relative low level, an administrative lieutenant most likely. As he helped someone out of the seat, Weiss saw a disheveled mop of blond hair.

" Told you." Yang said, grinning, before finally moving forward. The group of teenagers met in the middle, quickly exchanging hellos.

" Jaune !" Neptune called facetiously. " What brings you here?"

" I dunno." He replied. " Something about you owing me 5 lien and then leaving the country."

Neptune chuckled. " Stubborn bastard. How'd you get out of the hospital?"

"You'd be amazed at the things people will do for you if you just ask." He grinned. " How're you going to handle flying right over the ocean for days?" Neptune gulped slightly.

" I don't know what your talking about" he said, gripping Weiss's hand for support.

"Wimp." she said playfully, while Sage and Scarlett cracked up.

" Take care of those comics, playboy." Scarlett said, using that obnoxious nick name Neptune had told her was a result of envy on the part of Jaune leading a team of cute girls. If anything, it made her think even less of the ruffian. "They're vintage."

" Will do Scar." Jaune replied, with his own boorish nick name.

" See you 'round, Sage." The brown boy smiled, large hand shaking Jaune's own.

" Don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a final wave, SSN boarded the ship, leaving the girls to say their own goodbyes.

Weiss, naturally, went first.

" Farewell Jaune. It was ... pleasant." The blond smiled and replied.

" It sure was... snow angel." Ruby broke out into giggles and Yang wore a half smile as Weiss's face fell.

"You ruined it." She deadpanned. " You ruined it, and I'm leaving." And on that note, Weiss Schnee boarded the airship to Menagerie, awaiting her teammates' timely return.

" Don't mind her." Ruby said. " Weiss is just being..."

" Weiss cold?" Yang supplied, grinning from ear to ear.

"Dang it Yang." Ruby groaned, before her face grew serious. She steeled herself to say goodbye to her first friend from Beacon

"Goodbye Jaune." She said. I'm really going to miss you."

"Me too." He replied, before pulling out a plastic bag. " One more thing before you go."

She took the package and opened it to find a baker's dozen freshly baked cookies, with milk, dark and white chocolate chips mixed with various nuts, all slightly deformed and smelling as if they had just come out of the oven.

" You... how..." she asked, dumbfounded.

" They let me in the kitchen for an hour after I called in a favor." He turned to her in a stage whisper. " It's an old family recipe."

" I... I..."

"An Arc never goes back on his word."

Ruby lost all semblance of control and flung herself into him, rose petals scattering in the wind as she wrapped him up in the tightest hug her petite frame could muster.

"Ruby," he said, " side wound... can't... breath."

"Sorry," she said, pulling herself back, embarrassed. " Goodbye."

In the blink of an eye she raced up the ramp onto the airship, eager to find Weiss and dig into the sugary delights she had obtained.

It was just Jaune and Yang now... and the Lieutenant, technically, who was standing there awkwardly, waiting for one of the blonds to say something.

Each partner was staring at one another, burning the other's features to memory. They said nothing, while their eyes said everything. After a minute had passed, and the sun had almost faded behind her, Yang leaned in and gave Jaune a soft peck on the cheek. Perfectly innocent, except not quite.

It lingered too long to be considered strictly platonic, and it was far to close to his mouth. She pulled back, a true smile donning her face before being replaced with one last mischievous grin, promising something more.

" Take care of yourself, lady killer." She said shortly, before turning towards the ship. " You and I have unfinished business." And with that, she faded out of sight, imbuing each step with an exaggerated, tantalizing sway. The Lieutenant had the decency to look away while Jaune kept his eyes on her as long as possible. He gently touched his hand to a cheek.

This really was goodbye, but maybe, if he played his cards right... he smiled. At the very least, he had a hell of a happy ending to work for. Until then, he'd find some way to make himself useful.

As the ship began hovering, Ruby bit into one of the cookies. Yang chuckled at the expression on her face. Leave it to vomit boy to get the job done right. These domestic skills would be an excellent addition to her teasing material... was Ruby _moaning_?

"Yang." She said slowly. " As leader of team RWBY, I'm entrusting you with a highly important mission."

" What?" She asked.

" I don't care how you do it, but one way or another, you are going to get Jaune to propose, you are going to to put trays of these out at the wedding, and the second the honeymoon is over, you are going to send me that recipe."

"They can't be that good." Weiss said skeptically, reaching a hand across her partner's lap all the same.

" On it, sis." Yang said, chuckling as Ruby pulled the bag protectively into her chest.

"Back off, they're mine!"

Weiss shook her head. " I am going to miss having a sane leader."

Ruby pouted.

" Relatively sane." Weiss conceded.

"Alluvian Heights."

"My god, you're all just different brands of madness, aren't you." Weiss cried.

Ruby had her cookies, Weiss had her crippling neuroticism, and Yang had something to look forward to. No matter how hard Salem tried to ruin things, all was right with the world.

'Now,' Yang thought absentmindedly. 'What am I going to do with Blake?'


	4. Chapter 4

A week after his team's departure, Jaune had read through all the books left to him. Twice. He had also counted every block of concrete in the walls of the ward. 418.

He yawned and stretched, trying to make himself more comfortable in the bare, white bed he had been stuck in for over a week. After living the rough and tumble life of a Huntsman, where adrenaline was king, and death lurked in every corner, laying around all day, doing nothing, _sucked_.

He was handling it better than most. On the rare occasions when his team mates had been knocked down, they were down right miserable. Nora had normally cracked after two days, only the sternest of looks from Ren keeping her from bashing down every door in the building, only being more relentless when the situation was reversed. When Ren had broken his arm, she had practically put the hospital staff out a job, catering a syrupy pancake breakfast every morning with a never ending stream of get well soon cards met by a worn out sigh and a hidden smile.

The loafing about gave him far too much time to remember, and he made himself go down the roster of his old friends, taking his mind off it. Pyrrha had never set foot in the infirmary except to apologize to opponents who'd bitten off more than they could chew, gracious as always. Weiss would insist angrily that she was perfectly fine, thank you for asking, and of course this wasn't bothering her. Ruby would get restless until she was zipping about in place, buried in a bed of rose petals. Yang... he smiled. Yang would probably spend the whole day messing with orderlies, desperately trying to take her mind off the boredom. All in all he was probably coping better than any of them would, save for Blake, who'd relish the excuse to read for a few days.

Worse than the monotony of his imprisonment was its pointlessness. His aura had had done it's work faster than even the experts had predicted, closing his wounds and rising rapidly. He could walk around just fine, no amount of tutting from the staff was going to stop him, but they had mandated that he stay put until his aura levels were back at their peak, a sure sign that his body was fully healed.

' Just a little bit longer' he told himself, flipping through the headlines on his scroll. The news was as uninformative as always, filled with propaganda and human interest pieces, to keep up the morale of the people. "Wouldn't want them figuring out how screwed they are," he grumbled, " that'd just attract more Grimm." No team of spin doctors was able to quell the rumors, the grapevine by which actual information travelled to those whose heads weren't buried too deep in the sand to hear it.

Herds of Goliath had been spotted outside of Kuchinashi, and bands of Creeps were slinking through the southern sewers of the city slums. Riots were breaking out against the corrupt system Cinder and her cohorts had railed against, driven by fear and hunger more than any concrete outrage. Another dust refinery had closed down in Vacuo.

'And I'm here, lying in bed.' He didn't think he could make much of a difference, not in the grand scheme of things. But every minute he wasted here was a life that could have been saved, a fortress that could've been held, a swarm that could have been delayed if even for a moment.

The other's must have made it to Menagerie by now. He wondered how they were doing. Was Blake already apologizing, or stubbornly acting as if nothing was wrong? How long would Yang be angry before they all shrugged it off and went back to being friends? Not too long probably. Under that combative exterior was a heart of gold, and he knew it. It was the same with all of them really. RWBY had always been something an else, an otherworldly force that could take on even the worst of the worst, with boundless potential. The world could sleep a little easier with them back on course, and he'd been lucky to be a part of that. JNPR had been like that too actually, so Jaune supposed he had gotten lucky twice. He doubted he'd be so fortunate a third time.

He thumbed through the book of fairy tales, for the third time, looking out for his favorites. Dog-marked and highlighted were the chapters on the Two Brothers, the Maidens, and the Wizard, exhaustively looked over for some new evidence.

More personal favorites were ' the Tale of the Dragon Slayer', 'The Legend of Icarus' and the epic 'Journey to the West.' He'd wondered dully which were fact and which were fiction, and if any of the items of power the contained resembled the relics. A handful of his ancestors were mentioned in the text, the Arc family name going back a very, very long time. Whether Jaune would live up to the hype was an open question.

He was doing alright, all things considered. If only he could leave this room.

For the first time that week, the door opened off schedule. A mousy haired woman stepped in, holding a large needle filled with clear fluid.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He had memorized his schedule by now. A nurse would bring breakfast, lunch and dinner a few minutes after sunrise, noon, and sunset. Every other day Dr. Parcelsus would drop in for a check up. He hadn't mentioned anything about a shot.

" Just here to give you an aura booster." She said anxiously, eyes darting back and forth across the room as her body shook. 'Poor thing is a nervous wreck' he thought sadly. Not that he could blame her.

" They make those now?" He asked. He'd never heard of any treatment that could kick start a person's aura after its first activation, although it'd make sense if they could pull it off. High aura led to rapid healing, he was proof enough of that.

" Rarely." She replied. She forced out a nervous laugh. " N..n..not like you've ever n..n..needed it before, eh Arc?" That was true enough. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

" Dr. Parcelsus didn't say anything about that yesterday." He said. He didn't miss the look of panic that crept into her eye.

" Well.. y..you know. D... The doctor's been b.b..busy lately. A new shipment of men torn up from the front came in last night. " She choked out. " Must have slipped his mind." Then she moved in to perform the procedure.

She hadn't earned his scrutiny. More than likely she was just the victim of his frayed nerves, wired for life or death rather than casual conversation. But the last time he had brushed of this kind of gut feeling, having laughed it off as paranoia...

He snapped the nurse's wrist before the needle pierced his skin. With a cry she feel to the ground as the instrument clanged on the floor. The guards burst in, assault rifles raised.

" What the hell is going on!" One asked, seeing only the bed ridden boy and the screaming woman.

" I can't be sure." Jaune said dully, " But I think she's trying to kill me." For a moment, he feared he made a horrible mistake, watching the nurse's eyes widen in pain. But as the soldiers shifted their attention her expression shifted to a feral snarl. With her free hand and a violent cry, she reached for her scalpel and plunged it into his neck.

Her body was flung across the room as she hit the wall with a loud crunch. The blade bounced harmlessly off his aura as it knocked her back. It was incredible how strong he could make his shield, when he focused.

The smaller guard stared at him, dumbstruck. Jaune rubbed the back of his head apologetically. " Sorry for the commotion. Could you please just... take her away."

The soldier sighed, painfully aware of how much of a headache this whole situation was going to be for him.

" This just keeps getting weirder."

* * *

The journey to Menagerie had been quiet. Sure, there was that one murder of Nevermores that tried to swarm the ship on Monday, but any the ship's guns didn't take out had been on the business end of Crescent Rose. Still, Ruby was restless.

In a few minutes they be would be touching down on Faunus territory, to battle the forces of the White Fang as the full Team RWBY. If that wasn't nostalgic, nothing was. Ruby was excited to see Blake again, if for nothing else the sake of variety. Weiss had been scarce, running about with Neptune if Yang was to be believed, and from Weiss's expression whenever she was called out on it, she was probably right.

Neptune, for that matter, had calmed down after being exposed to the ocean for several days, reassured by the distance afforded by the airship, although no one missed his gasp of relief as soon as the ship reached land. Having Weiss to cuddle with made the burden a bit easier.

Yang seemed affable enough, but she too had been fairly detached throughout the journey. When she wasn't humoring her sister, she had taken to staring at the world map, displayed on each of their scrolls and tracking the progress of their flight. Ruby would often rush into her sisters room, ready to beg for attention before noticing the wistful look on her face and deciding to leave her be. When Ruby was especially bored she would peak over her sisters shoulder, trying to follow her gaze. Occasionally her sights drifted to a small island off the coast of Vale, or the incoming port at Menagerie, but inevitably her gaze would lock back on Mistral. Ruby knew better than to interrupt her sister's reveries, but that meant that for most of the trip she was alone and very bored.

So, to fill the void of companionship, she found herself in the bridge, pestering the pilots of the airship on whatever questions popped into her mind. Captain Azure was an Atlesian veteran who had little time to deal with her childish antics. His co-pilot, Rojas, however, was fresh out of boot camp, a wet behind the ears teenager who was more than happy to have the attention of a cute girl. The Captain considered forcing her out of his bridge and reminding his subordinate to do his damned job, but he hesitated. The war had taken a lot out of everyone. 'Let the kid enjoy himself for a while.'

" So, basically," Rojas explained eagerly, " the generators produce an electrical charge, which is amplified by a special kind of dust crystal in the propulsion system. This energy then exits, forcing air throughout several pressurized release valves across the ship, allowing us to levitate thousands of feet off the ground for weeks at a time."

" That is so cool!" Ruby gushed. " Do you have the schematics?" Rojas looked genuinely surprised. Very few people he knew considered the technical aspects of his job cool.

"Yes. They're probably in the top compartment, gathering dust." He said, reaching up awkwardly, trying his best not to look like an idiot. " Why do you want to see them so badly?" He said, finally opening the hatch and handing her the pamphlet in what he was sure was the most suave manner possible.

" Oh, I just wanted to get some ideas." She said, ignoring the look of shock on his face as she flipped to the blueprints. "I've seen a handful of Hunters use energy weapons, but none of them seem nearly as powerful as this." The thought of something like Myrtenaster with all of it's attacks amplified tenfold made her giddy. It would be an awesome birthday present for her partner, and it might even melt Weiss's ice cold demeanor for a few days. The fact that brightening her teammate's mood required her to manufacture a weapon of mass destruction did not strike Ruby as odd in the least.

" You... make weapons?" Rojas asked. He had heard stories from his friends in combat school about weapon design, but most Huntsman stopped after making their own, viewing it as a rite of passage, and a chore to be done before one could go about the fun business of tearing monsters to pieces.

" I dabble." Ruby replied, not taking her eyes off the paper. He frowned. She.. wasn't feigning interest in his job to get to know him better?

" Well," he said cockily, " the reason most weapons don't compare is because they use more primitive tech. The crystal form of dust used is highly volatile. It took our scientists ages to construct a stabilizing support system, and that takes up far more space than the crystals themselves. Can't match the wonders of Atlesian Engineering." He said, preening and flexing slightly. 'She won't stand a chance.'

" Interesting." She said, so engrossed in her reading that she seemingly didn't see him at all. Rojas didn't get it. ' Is she trying to let me down easy?' He thought ' Or is she really that oblivious?'

" I wonder if the cooling system could be replaced by tiny ice dust crystals..." she muttered. Rojas's eyes widened. 'That's actually an interesting idea. Amateur, but interesting'

" That won't work." He said, shaking his head. " The amplifying dust is notoriously unstable. Putting it in contact with other forms of dust would be a disaster."

" True." Ruby said, biting her lower lip. " But maybe they don't have to meet. If I could separate them physically, but then connect them through the hilt with an aura conduit..." she began sketching a rough draft. She could probably put a small ice crystal in the center of the hilt, and encase the amplifying dust in the end of the pommel. It wouldn't throw off the weight of the sword too much, Weiss could adapt. She'd make two separate channels, one active at all times, stabilizing the weapon, and the other connecting to the various chambers, activated by the wielder's aura.

Rojas looked over the sketch. 'My god'. If she could design something like that on the fly... " Why aren't you in the tech department?" He asked.

Ruby laughed sheepishly. " I'm only good at making weapons. Learned by trial and error mostly." She said, remembering hundreds of hours she spent in the forge at Signal, long after the other students had gone, perfecting her baby. " I'm too rocky on theory to be much good at more general stuff, and most of my babies tend to be 'overkill' " she said, pantomiming the lecture she got from her first year teacher after she blew up half the firing range with her firstborn.

'Babies?' Rojas wondered, before deciding not to ask. He smiled. He had specialized in Dust Theory before he was shipped out, hoping to get a cushy job at the Schnee Dust Company before he was conscripted. 'All those night classes are about to pay off.'

"You don't want to experiment too much with this kind of dust." he said, concerned. " I can help you model some of the reactions." He offered generously, slipping an arm over her shoulder while looking at her... schematics. " It'll be safer, and it should shorten your workload a bit."

She beamed brightly at him, so naively that he almost felt guilty. Almost." Really? You could do that?" Hook, line, and sinker.

"Sure, wouldn't be a problem at all." He drawled, before the control panel in front of him lit up brighter than the Atlesian sky line. Captain Azure glared at him, unamused.

" I.. uh... I've got to take this." he said, slipping his headset on as he decrypted the message.

" What's the situation, Rojas?" The Captain asked. Why he put this brat on comms was beyond him. Not one of his better decisions.

" Orders to land on the outskirts of Menagerie instead of the main hangar." He replied uncertainly. "But it's coming from an old Atlesian frequency. Not the kind of tech that the Faunus use."

The Captain waved him off. " It's not that surprising. Less of a chance the White Fang finds out we're here."

" Okay, I guess." Five minutes to landing. It was now or never.

" The dust you're looking for is almost exclusively produced in a mine outside of Vacou, Devil's Green. If you give me your scroll number I can send you more details." He said with a wolfish grin.

Ruby scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then left it on his console. "Sure thing." She said, before looking at the clock. " I've got to get my team together before we land. Thanks for all the help..." she said enthusiastically, before struggling for a moment. "Rojas."

" Lt. Lupus Rojas." He said jovially. " Call me Lupus." He chuckled as she sped down the hall, a trail of rose petals dropping behind her. " I can't wait to see you again, little red riding hood." He turned to his Captain. " What do you think my chances are?"

'Damned teenagers.' The Captain thought, shaking his head. " Normally," he began, " I'd say she's a bit young for you. She's also not interested. If she weren't so damn sweet I'd say she was playing you."

" She's not _uninterested_." Rojas said defensively. " I can still make this work."

" Maybe." The Captain replied, unconvinced. " But she's also a Huntress."

"So?"

" So, Huntresses are some of the most beautiful women in all of Remnant." So much so that plenty of young men tried to skirt their way into combat school to chase said skirts. All that excess aura and training did wonders.

"With the caveat that any one of them could kill you in a heart beat. Even that little girl could easily break every bone in your body. Most of them are also a lot less tolerant about this sort of thing." He grimaced, from the memories of his less fortunate friends and from personal experience. " You want my advice, stick with civvies. You'll impress more of them and you'll live longer."

" That just makes the game more interesting." Rojas said nonchalantly, as the ship touched down for landing.

* * *

Menagerie was warm. Paradoxically so, even. Most of the Kingdom's were near Remnant's equator, while Menagerie was far to the South, yet it was somehow hotter here than in Vale and Mistral. That didn't make much sense to Ruby, but geography wasn't a huge focus at Signal or Beacon, so she'd roll with it, if only to get Weiss to stop mentioning 'greater fluctuations in seasonal climate at more extreme latitudes'. The airship touched down on a landing strip on the edge of the coastal jungle, near the first stretches of the inland desert.

Ruby rushed off the airship and on to the ground, dragging an understanding Yang and a substantially less enthusiastic Weiss with her as she scanned the area for a familiar face with a black bow. Or cat ears, since there wouldn't be much reason to disguise her heritage here. But neither feature was apparent amongst the myriad Huntsman that were spread across the area, lazing about. Most were far older than the girls, a dozen or so veterans who had at least a decade of experience on each of them and battle scars to prove it. At the far end of the strip were a few familiar faces, lounging on a few supply crates.

" Ruby, Weiss, Yang! Over here!" A friendly voice with a slight accent called out excitedly, practically hopping over until a few glares from the surrounding veterans caused her to shrink, bunny ears drooping slightly in embarrassment. Fox gave the group a polite nod while Yatsuhashi gave them a large wave.

" If it isn't our favorite first years." Coco said cooly, pulling down her shades in acknowledgement. Wartime had forced the girl to simplify her ensemble, but the fashionista had obviously put quite a bit of effort into maintaining her as much of her wardrobe as was feasible. She looked curiously at Yang's prosthetic arm. " Nice color scheme." She remarked. " The black accentuates your outfit well."

" I try." Yang chuckled, not missing the concerned looks of Velvet and Yatsuhashi. " I'm fine, guys." She said, waving her arm as naturally as she could. " Really. It's all water under the bridge."

"If you say so." Yatsuhashi muttered.

" So," Weiss asked. " Do any of you know where the reception is? It's too empty here."

" I'm not sure." Velvet said. " We've been here for hours and the only people to show up were other Huntsmen." She glanced at a schedule on her scroll. " We're still waiting on one more team." She shrugged, perplexed. " Maybe they just wanted to greet us all at once?"

" Maybe..." Ruby agreed, half heartedly. This would delay their re-union a bit. 'Well, we've waited this long.' she thought, sighing as she settled in, resigned to being bored once again.

"What's the story with them?" Coco asked, gesturing to Scarlet, Sage and Neptune, who had taken a much more relaxed pace and followed the girls off the airship.

" Their leader is here in Menagerie. Chased after Blake." Yang said simply.

Coco grinned. " Any juicy details?"

Yang shook her head bemusedly. " Couldn't tell you. I'd be surprised if there aren't , though." Not wanting to disappoint the upperclassman and unapologetic gossip, she gave a consolation prize. " Weiss Cream is with the kid wearing goggles."

" I have a name, you know." Neptune said indignantly. Coco smirked.

"And the other two?"

" Just friends of ours." Yang replied.

" _Not for lack of trying._ " Scarlet muttered before wincing slightly as Sage elbowed him.

" We haven't seen each other in a year, Blondie." Coco said, non-plussed. " You've got to have something more interesting to share."

" Aside from all the skulls we've cracked? Not really." Yang suddenly regained the wistful look she had worn so often on the air ship. " There is someone in Mistral..." she trailed off, discouraged by the look on Coco's face that showed she smelled blood. " It didn't go anywhere. Not yet." Yang said, abruptly ending that line of inquiry. Coco frowned before sighing dramatically.

" Such a tease." she tutted. " I blew off a Goliath's head of last month." She said casually, as if discussing the weather. "It was trying to leave Beacon and enter the Kingdom proper. The rest of my team pulled away its support, and I emptied my Gatling Gun into its neck." That was no small feat. Full grown Goliaths were several stories tall, well armored and as cunning as they came. Few Huntsmen would dare take one on on their own.

" We dealt with a few Goliaths in Mistral." Yang said, " Though it usually involved a lot of running and a lot of explosives."

" I've heard rumors about Mistral." Coco said. She flicked the colored strand of hair from her face before turning back to Yang. " About the uprisings, and incursions, and Lionheart. Didn't know you guys were there though. How was it?"

" Take the worst you heard and double it." Yang said, thinking back to the early days, when it looked like the city itself might fall, betrayed from within. The hellish crucible that had taken the remains of JNPR and RWBY and inextricably melded them as it threatened to engulf everything and reduce it to ash.

Coco looked almost jealous. " Vale's been pretty quiet since Beacon. No goons of any kind, only Grimm." She shrugged. " Guess most of them got out of dodge after knocking out the CCT. The most excitement we've had is the occasional attempt to reclaim Beacon. Should be nice getting back into the action again."

Yang didn't respond to that, becoming momentarily distracted by Ruby's excited response to some of the photos of the various weapons Velvet had accumulated.

"Wouldn't have come without a full arsenal." Coco replied cheekily, following Yang's gaze.

"Hey Weiss!" Yang yelled, interrupting the ever frequent chatter between Weiss and Neptune.

"What?" She asked irritably.

" Chieftain Belladonna is probably Blake's dad right? And he's been in charge of Menagerie for half a decade?"

Weiss pinched her temples before responding. "They're almost definitely related, although I can't say how. And yes. Why?"

" How did she enter Beacon without anyone other than Ozpin figuring out she was a Faunus when she was using that name, especially if she looks anything like her parents?" The problem had occurred to Yang on the trip to Menagerie, when her mind wasn't occupied by her fellow blond.

Weiss blinked. That was... a very good question, actually. " Most people don't pay that much attention to foreign politics ?" She offered hesitantly.

" No kidding." Yang said, before seeing an oncoming airship. From the corner of her eye, she saw movement in the tree line. Most of the other Huntsmen saw it too, the more cautious among them preparing for trouble. They had seen to many skirmishes to brush it off as mere coincidence.

As if a sadistic universe went out its way to prove their point, a surface to air missile streaked from the tree line, right into the cockpit of the incoming ship as it exploded, the fireball incinerating all Huntsmen and crew on board instantly. The incoming hail of bullets scattered the troops on the ground as Hunters and soldiers alike leapt for cover.

" Ambush!" One of the Elder Huntsmen yelled, streaks of grey in his hair indicating a mixture of extreme stress and experience as he lead his neighbors in a counter assault. Ruby looked desperately for a fallback position, eyes settling on several tall, thick steel supply crates some of the crews of the airships had been off loading before the attack, which formed a rough square about ten meters long and four meters tall.

" Fall back!" Ruby called desperately, semblance leaping into action as she pulled several soldiers, crewman, and other soft targets out of the line of fire and behind the makeshift barricade. On a good day, most of the more experienced Huntsman would have disregarded the orders of a sixteen year old rookie. Today was not a good day, and with Aura dropping rapidly, most swallowed their pride before they would swallow lead. The fighters with the greatest ranged capability leapt to the top of the barricade and made use of superior position and firepower, mowing down as much of the oncoming charge as they could.

"There are hundreds of them! We're being overrun!"

Coco, Neptune and Velvet fired countless rounds at whoever appeared to be the leaders, the most skilled dodging their sights easily as they danced through the carnage.

" I knew it!" Rojas shouted, being the last man Ruby managed to pull back. " I knew it as soon as I saw that signal. The Faunus never use Atlesian tech!" He said, blood streaming down his face from a gash in his temple.

"Then why didn't you say anything!' Captain Azure shouted angrily, clutching a hole in his shoulder while Ruby wrapped a bandage around Rojas's temple.

" I thought I was being paranoid." Rojas said nervously.

" Lupus Rojas, I swear, if we get out of this I will personally bust you down to private!"

" You can fight each other later!" Ruby said, after she had rudimentarily patched the two of them up. " Treat the wounded or help cover our position!" With that she leapt to the top of the barricade, and Crescent Rose joined the cacophony of weapons that peppered the landscape.

Rojas wore an enamored grin while the Captain grimaced. " What a woman."

* * *

When her life wasn't on the line, Yang found fighting quite fun. Really, most Huntsmen did, and she didn't think it was that weird. It was a great workout, unparalleled stress relief, and if you followed the standard hero model it was usually for a good cause. After months of mostly rabid Grimm and goons who had no skill what so ever, she would've found it refreshing to go against fighters who could take a few hits and had a basic understanding of tactics. However, imminent death for you and most of your loved ones had a way of souring even the sweetest experiences.

Yang had been one of the first to hear her sister's orders, and was therefore in the best shape of the group. She had also been the first to leap back to the ground inside the square once the legion of Faunus with the famous white masks had begun streaming inside the barricades. She pounded away at their front lines, covering the weak and the wounded as they fell further back. She growled in frustration as the mongoose Faunus in front of her evaded another one of her attacks. He was fast. Finally, she let him hit her in the stomach, forcing his guard down as she was unscathed and pummeling through his weak aura shield until her fists hit home and drove him into the concrete.

Yang used the short reprieve before the next replacement in the sea of bodies came at her to assess the situation. Many elder Huntsmen were still of top of the barricades, locked in a series of melees with the more agile White Fang soldiers. On the ground, Neptune and Velvet had rallied the rest of Team Sun to form an impromptu body guard around Weiss, who as a support style fighter had a relatively weak aura shield and whose family connections made her a popular target amongst the rank and file White Fang. They came at them by the dozen. Coco and Ruby were on top of the barricade, alternating between close quarters combat and covering the fighters on the ground. The surviving soldiers stayed behind cover, firing carefully aimed burst into the growing stampede.

The very human Fox Allistar was in a heated bot with two actual Fox Faunus in Red Cloaks, neither being able to overwhelm him but each covering the other from the worst of his blades. Fox swiveled around, desperate for an opening, striking a powerful but non-lethal blow on the tailed Faunus. Yatsuhashi, meanwhile, was tangling with a tiger of man who was even taller than he was, and he was actually losing ground. Yang resolved to rush over and help him, but before she could a trio of jackal Faunus rushed at her, fangs bared.

"I don't have time for this !" She cried, landing a satisfying smack on the nose of her center attacker. Aura took the brunt of the blow, but never the less he fell back, whimpering in pain. The other two attacked her, coming in on each side before she sidestepped and caused the pair to crash into one another. She then grabbed each of their heads and slammed them into each other repeatedly, until their aura had dissipated and she was satisfied that they weren't getting back up again. She turned to the third, but he had already scurried away, yelping in fear. 'Smart.' She thought, before deciding to turn the other cheek and let him live a while longer. She had bigger fish to fry.

She turned back to Yatsuhashi, just as the swordsman fell to the floor, claws digging into his unprotected face. She sprinted over, desperate to intercept the killing blow, but Coco beat her to it, leaping down from the barricade and slamming her briefcase into the tiger's head at full force. To his credit, the Faunus was only mildly disoriented, stumbling for a moment before regaining his footing. Yang's gauntlet intercepted his counter, fist meeting fist as the force of the impact cracked the surrounding concrete.

Looking at his two new opponents, the Faunus gave a grudging smile. " I must say," he said, with an accent that sounded similar to Velvet's, yet so very different, strength and menace replacing anxiety and warmth. " I'm impressed. Few humans can match me in feats of strength." He drank in their forms appreciatively. " Let alone young girls."

"What can I say?" Yang replied. " Aura's weird like that."

"Indeed." The Faunus chuckled, his own energy flaring and distorting his body, orange and black tank top rippling under the strain of the underlying muscles. 'Great.'

Coco gestured angrily to a handful of nearby soldiers, one of whom Yang recognized from the ship... 'Rogers or Rojas' she though dimly. " Take him and run!" She yelled. The men didn't think twice, dragging away the large man with all their strength.

" Typical." The beast called after them. He turned to the two girls, whose heads barely reached his chest. " Aren't you going to go with them?" He drawled. " I do enjoy a good chase."

" I'm not running." Coco growled murderously, Gatling gun at the ready.

At this the Faunus gave a wide, toothy grin. " Everyone runs from Sienna Khan."

He pounce at Coco first, brushing a handful of mini gun rounds like they were nothing before slamming a large fist into her gut and knocking her back several feet. Coco landed violently and barely resisted the urge to bend over wheezing. Yang fired Ember Celica, shells smashing into his back , turning him away from the vulnerable girl in front of him and towards the blonde brawler behind him.

" Bold move, girl." He said, before charging across the battlefield to meet her.

None of the others dared interfere in their bout. The human fighters were so swamped that they had to focus all attention on protecting themselves, and no member of the White Fang was willing to challenge anyone who could challenge their boss on even footing.

For several minutes, the trio engaged in a dance of death, each step a carefully calculated move towards the abyss. Coco was slightly stronger than Yang, but she was slower, more used to crowd control with overwhelming force than one on one combat. She swung her weapon, unable to shift to her Gatling gun without leaving herself wide open, missing far more often than she hit while desperately evading the savage strikes of her opponent.

Yang was more attuned to this style of combat. She was a boxer, the footwork and misdirection coming naturally to her as she evaded Sienna's claws and jabbed at his defenses. She managed to captivate most of the tiger's attention, giving Coco several openings to slam her briefcase into him, for all the good it was doing them. The man was a tank, a never ending well of strength and stamina, his aura capacity second only to Jaune's. Sienna had more experience than the blond knight, and was able to use the boon far more effectively. For every hit he managed to get on Yang, she landed two on him, but he was far stronger and she was far less durable. The only balm for the screaming pain that wracked her body was that her semblance put every ounce of force he hit her with back into her own blows.

Sienna leaped back,catching his breath and preparing to strike again. Sweat poured down her brow as Yang turned to Coco, panting. " Having fun yet?"

The brunette looked furious and uncharacteristically disheveled. Her beret was askew on her forehead, her sunglasses shattered on the ground, her necklaces broken with beads scattered on the floor. Her favorite sweater was torn in several places, and if Coco had Yang's semblance, the blonde was sure her eyes would be the most chillingly blood red she could imagine.

" Never better." She growled, no thoughts on her mind save for breaking her foe's bones into tiny fragments, before skinning him, putting his head on her mantel and wearing his hide as an honest to god fur coat. It wasn't particularly progressive of her, but Yang could certainly appreciate the sentiment.

The two charged before the large Faunus could, hoping the element of surprise would be enough to overcome the monstrous differential in strength, but alas, it was not to be. He whipped forward, meeting them with a feral grin as he struck, twisting their bodies from the impact as they were thrown off balance and collapsed.

Sienna took a moment to appreciate the sight around him. His best warriors were being met blow for blow, but their superior numbers were turning the tide.

" I can see why Ghira was so eager to have you." He said, acknowledging the blonde bombshell who was the first to struggle to get back up. " Your strength truly is impressive. You've lasted this long, haven't you?" He shook his head. " But as strong as you are, you aren't strong enough. Not enough to make a difference."

" We'll see about that!' Yang shouted, slamming a metal fist into his jaw. He staggered, but his eyes widened in recognition rather than pain.

" I know you." He said, intrigued. " You're Blake's partner, the blonde beauty from Beacon who Adam almost killed."

Yang scoffed. " So we're acquainted." She clenched her fists at the mention of the man who took her arm, talking, buying time to recover. " And I very much doubt he called me that."

" He didn't." Sienna agreed. " I did. My student and I have very different philosophies." he gestured to the surrounding mayhem. " Adam would never sully himself with a human. The only bridge he wants to build is out of their bones, around the world. I see things differently." He locked eyes with her. " Humans do have a place in the new world, so long as that place is at my feet. Humanity's men can till my fields, and build my thrones. Human women can bear Faunus children, and monogamy is such a droll, human concept." He glanced at Coco, who was beginning to raise herself as well. " I'm sure the two of you would bear strong, fine cubs."

"Bastard." She muttered, body shaking with rage.

"Quite the opposite, actually." He said with slight indignation. " I'm merely making an observation. While I wish to bring back the old ways, I consider myself a man of some refinement. Plenty will line up for such an honor." He chuckled arrogantly.

" I'd never compel submission, and if you two are as strong mentally as you are physically I can't imagine you'd kneel willingly." He bared his canines hungrily. " I will grant you a warrior's death."

Yang smiled, recharged. " Thanks. I appreciate it." She paused. " No offense, but you aren't really my type, and I'm taken anyway."

"Of course you are." Sienna chuckled mirthlessly as he grabbed her punch as soon as she threw it, before flinging her over his head and tossing her over a yard. She hit the ground with a dull thud, dazed. She yelled without thinking, on instinct.

" Jaune, firewall, now!" But no shield came. A punch connected with head, knocking her back again, before the real blow hit. 'Jaune's not here.' She thought dully, vision blurring. 'Funny, I almost forgot.'

Coco's desperate cry of "Yang!" brought her back to her senses. 'This is not good.' Her body was on fire, her aura was running low, Ember Celica needed reloading. ' What else is new?' She thought. She saw the brunette charging the lumbering tiger before he casually grabbed her, and, with her support gone, slammed her head into the ground.

Yang regained her footing before letting out another salvo of rounds, denting Sienna's aura and preventing him from landing the final blow on Coco. Her aura was low, but so was his. It was an even fight." This is between you and me!" She yelled, preparing to charge her foe one last time.

Before they could collide, a shot gun blast knocked the giant back, and a black tassel wrapped around his right arm. ' Gambol Shroud' Yang realized.

Standing behind Sienna Khan were Sun Wukong -gun chucks in tow - and Blake Belladonna.

" Well, well, well." He said, looking at the new arrivals, unperturbed. " My little kitten is all grown up." Blake scowled, and Yang heard her old partner's voice for the first time in a year.

" I was never yours, Khan."

" No," he said sadly. " you weren't. Nor were you Adam's, or Ozpin's, or even you father's pawn. You have always stood on you own, hiding in the shadows. A pity, really."

" I don't need your pity." She said, bitter from the betrayal of years, with the slightest tinge of regret as the betrayal was hers, not his. She had let him go down the path they had chosen, abandoning him to the darkness - no. They had made their own choices, and she had made hers.

" Don't you?" He asked curiously. " Without it, you aren't walking away alive."

" Sienna!" A powerful voice called out, bringing the battle to a halt as all eyes turned to the panther of a man, leading an army behind him. " How far you have fallen." Hundreds of Faunus loyalists wearing blue and white, soldiers of Menagerie, lined up behind him, matching the claws and fangs of their black and red brothers.

" Ghira!" Sienna said, greeting an old friend rather than a deadly rival. " How far you have risen." He wore a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. " You have your treasured peace with the Humans, all thanks to me. Tell me," he asked. " how does it feel, licking Ironwood's boots?"

" This ends here, Sienna." Ghira growled, unwilling to look his successor, his ally, his former friend in the eye. This mad man was a pale imitation of the proud Faunus he once knew.

" Oh Ghira, you're as foolish as always." Sienna said, with a wan smile. " There is so much you don't understand, so much you will _never_ understand." he growled. " Nothing ever ends. Not really." Sienna raised a hand, and an translucent figure appeared to rise before them, only her outline visible amongst the storm of dust and blood around them.

"Ilia." Blake whispered, before a series of smoke bombs covered the battlefield.

" Hold your breath!" Sun yelled, " They could be poisoned!" He charged after the specter, outline still visible as the smog cloaked everything her. " The chameleon is mine!' He growled, before Blake grabbed his arm and pulled him back protectively.

Yang's eyes watered from the smoke, but she held her breath all the same. After what seemed like an eternity, the smog cleared, and she greedily took in gulp after gulp of air, gasping for breath, exhausted. Standing before her once again, while the surviving forces regrouped and recovered, where Sun and Blake. Sun waved an awkward hello, and Blake's face reeked of guilt, eyes locked on the scratched black of Yang's right arm. The tension of the re-union was becoming palpable, and Yang couldn't have that.

" What's the matter, Blake?" She asked, a small grin emerging. " Cat got your tongue?"


	5. Chapter 5

The town of Kuo Kuana was in remarkably good shape, compared to places like Vale and Mistral. It was a little cramped, and there were few buildings larger than two stories, but the wooded hamlets that dotted the streets had a certain charm to them. Walking down the street, Ruby saw more variety of Faunus than she new existed. Frogs, birds, lizards, deer, leopards, and lynxes appeared between the more common, familiar, cats, rabbits and dogs. Occasionally she would see a soldier patrolling the streets, garbed in the blue and white of the Faunus loyalists, but far less often than she was used to. Even the anxious energy of civilians going about their daily lives was muted compared to the barely suppressed terror during Mistral's worst days.

Mr. Belladonna sighed when she asked him about it as they walked through the informal capital of Menagerie. " The White Fang wants to control Menagerie, not destroy it. They're attempting a war of attrition, using precision strikes and propaganda to undermine our authority. Death by a thousand cuts, as they say."

The force that had attacked them at the airstrip had retreated on the arrival of reinforcements, disappearing behind a veil of smoke and sand to the safety of the desert. Ruby looked to the rest of her team as the group arrived at the Belladonna Residence. Had she been in the mood to notice such things, she would have thought it was rather nice.

" Ms. Rose." Ghira said politely, " I'll have to ask you to leave the rest of your team outside for a moment. I need to meet with all the squad leaders to assess the situation."

Ruby looked at Weiss, Yang and ... Blake. Her sister was roughed up, and Weiss had taken a few too many hits to be comfortable, but they would be fine tomorrow. Blake was practically untouched. Team RWBY had walked away from that battle unscathed. ' If only everyone was so lucky.'

The girls gave her a nod, and Ghira put a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder before nudging her towards them. The majority of RWBY prepared for either a very awkward conversation or an equally awkward silence, each glancing at the others, making sure that what they were seeing was in fact real.

Ruby gave them one last backwards glance before entering the home. A cat Faunus, who had to be Blake's mother, was setting a fresh pot of Tea in the center of a table, where Sun Wukong, Coco Adel, and an Elder Huntsmen with copper hair streaked with grey were seated, waiting. Ruby joined them while Ghira sat down at the head of the table.

The Eldest Huntsman, Coppermouth, broke the silence. " Chieftain Belladonna," he said deferentially, bowing his head slightly before continuing. " Of the twenty eight Huntsmen that were sent today, five were killed in the fire fight. All of Team PWKL was caught in the initial explosion, and one of my team mates was overwhelmed. Ten more were severely wounded, enough to force them off duty for the foreseeable future, including the other two squad leaders. We've also lost thirty seven of the soldiers and crew."

" And they've lost nearly two hundred." A voice called out. A large bear Faunus, Baal, had entered, the room, along with the good Captain Azure, in order to represent the common soldiers of Menagerie.

" They would've lost far more had we set the terms of the battle." Ghira replied. " Instead Sienna ambushed us and crippled our forces right after they arrived. Now we'll have to spend valuable time licking our wounds." Textbook Sienna Khan tactics. 'Better to be hurt today than dead tomorrow.'

" They're hurting pretty badly too." Coco pointed out, mocha eyes hardened by her earlier beating. " Why don't we hunt them down now? Give them a taste of their own medicine?"

" If we could, we would." Ghira said. He picked up his tea, taking a sip before burning his tongue slightly and putting it back down. " The fact is the interior of the island is inhospitable. The wildlife is fierce, to say nothing of the Grimm. Sienna and the White Fang have found someway to survive out there, and despite our best efforts we have been unable to track them."

" So just let me-" Sun began.

"No!" Ghira growled, knowing what the monkey Faunus was going to say before the words had left his mouth. " For the last time, I will not allow you go gallivanting off into the desert on a wild goose chase, especially now, with two of your teammates out of commission."

Neptune had broken his arm in the melee to defend Weiss, and Scarlet had an unfortunate encounter with a flame thrower, getting some rather nasty burns. Both boys would be fine in the long run, but neither was leaving the infirmary anytime soon.

" He took Yatsu's left eye." Coco muttered dangerously, cracking the glass in her grip. " I want payback."

" Vengeance is a dangerous thing." Ghira warned. " The only reason we're here now is that so many of my old friends thought like you." Friends who had now tried to kill him on a regular basis for the past several months. " But I assure you, you'll get your chance. Sienna will see to that."

Coco nodded, satisfied. Then she disengaged from the conversation, spending the remainder of the meeting brooding.

" We lost one ship." Captain Azure said. " Two more are damaged, but functional. They're yours, for the moment." He turned to Coppermouth in sympathy. " The fourth ship has already left for Atlas. We had to send the bodies home somehow."

Ghira grimaced, before nodding in understanding. The day wasn't even over and he had already lost half of the few reinforcements that Ironwood could spare him. The Battle for Menagerie was going to be that much harder.

For the next half hour, the group talked about logistics. Triage of medical supplies, the estimated recovery times of the Hunters, the tactical strengths and weaknesses of each team, and the most likely areas of attack. Finally, the conversation dragged to a standstill.

Coppermouth turned to Ghira, tired. " If you'll excuse me, Chieftain, I need to go find what's left of my team. We have a comrade to grieve."

" Of course." Ghira replied. " This meeting is already as good as over. Take as long as you need."

The Huntsmen nodded gratefully, and then extended his hand to the other group leaders, expectantly. " I don't believe I caught all your names earlier."

" Sun Wukong." The blond Faunus said eagerly. " Leader of Team Sun."

"Coco Adel, leader of Team Coffee."

" Ruby Rose, leader of Team Ruby."

He shook each of their hands. " Coppermouth Jones, leader of Team Cobra." He said, revealing a forked tongue as he spoke. " Or most of it, anyway. You kids were good today. A sight better than the rest of us."

" That's probably because it's been so long since you've all fought in teams." Ruby said. "We're just used to it."

The snake Faunus shook his head. " No. Even if it has been years, we should have done better. At your age we weren't anywhere near your level. You all are something else."

" Thanks." Ruby said, thinking back to the countless battles over the course of the past year. Had it really only been a year? 'A day out there' Qrow had once said, ' is worth a week in here'. Beacon had never seemed so far away. " We've been through a lot." the man nodded, a far off look in his eyes.

" Are you ok?" Sun asked, looking at the older Faunus's expression with concern.

" No." The man replied softly. " I hadn't spoken to my team in years, and we all went our separate ways after graduation. Life has a way of making people drift apart. But, when I called them here..." the man looked like he was about to be overcome with emotion before he steadied himself.

"They came running." Sun replied, knowing his friends had done the same thing, and appreciating that he could easily be in Coppermouth's position.

"They did. And now Alphonse is dead, because of it." 'Because of me.' he thought. Coppermouth shook his head, an expression they had seen far too often on Jaune overcoming his features. "It'll take time to get used to that."

The snake Faunus walked outside, letting in the rest of Team RWBY as he left. They shuffled in, apparently still in awkward silence. Coco turned to Ghira as the girls walked in.

" Where are we staying?" she asked, looking expectantly at Ghira.

" We've set up temporary housing across the city. The rest of your team should already have been sent there." He said. " Baal, if you would?"

The bear Faunus nodded, looking rather chipper as he pulled out a map. " Team CFVY, right? You're just a few blocks down the street."

" Baal." Ghira said. " Make sure to memorize that map layout and burn it. We wouldn't want that information to fall into the wrong hands.

Baal nodded anxiously. " Of course, sir." Coco gave the Chieftain a nod, assuring him that she would make sure that map was burned. Ghira appreciated it. He trusted Baal, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

" So... Mr. Belladonna.." Ruby began, nervously playing with the end of her hood. "Where are we staying?"

" With us, of course." Kali replied, entering the room and looking over her new house guests with a warm smile. "We can't leave our daughter's friends out on the streets, now can we?"

The Belladonna home was spacious. Not quite as large as the Schnee mansion, or quite as homey as the Xiao Long home at Patch, but a comfortable in between. It was far more inviting than the Mistrali Barracks or the cramped cabins of an airship, to say the least.

"Alright!" Sun said, wagging his tail excitedly. " New room mates."

Ghira grimaced yet again while Kali smiled slightly. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noticed a small uptick in Blake's lips that could almost be called a smile. Almost.

" Which one of you would like the rightmost room on the second floor?" Ghira asked politely, with only the look in his eyes indicating that this was more than just a cordial offer. " It has a lovely view of the Kuo Kuana Bay."

" Mr. B." Sun said hesitantly, being the first to catch on. " That's my room."

" Is it now?" The man said, barely repressing a deep, bass chortle as everyone in the dining room caught on. " We only have so much space. With Team RWBY moving in I suppose you'll have to make other arrangements. The same bungalow as the rest of Team SSSN, perhaps?" He said, oh so innocently.

" But, Blake and I... oh, come on!" Sun said, turning to the others in the room, desperate for support. Mrs. Belladonna seemed the most sympathetic, but she wasn't going to help him out. Not this time. Weiss had an extremely pleased, wide, haughty grin on her face. 'Damn Ice Queen', he thought angrily. Yang seemed more subdued than normal, but she still seemed more amused by his predicament than anything. Blake looked away with a small blush, and Ruby gave him an apologetic look.

" Sorry Sun," she said " but we need to sleep somewhere."

Sun gave an exaggerated sigh as his tail dipped towards the ground. " Fine." He turned to Ghira with an exasperated pout. " I can see when I'm not wanted." He muttered, before petulantly moving for the door.

" Really?" Ghira said, unable to resist. " Then I'd have thought you'd have taken the hint by now." Sun slammed the door shut on his way out.

" Ghira." Kali reprimanded lightly. " That is no way to treat a guest."

Nothing could take the smile off the panther's face. He leaned into the table, posture slackening with an immense look of satisfaction, as though an unbearable weight had finally been taken off his shoulders.

"But he's not our guest, Kali." Ghira said. " Not anymore. After nearly a year, I've finally gotten him out of the house!" There was something surreal about watching the gentle giant purr in content. " I can finally rest at ease."

' He must have really hated Sun.' Yang thought dully. Not truly hated, of course, but hated in the way that any doting father felt about some unscrupulous teenager who was trying to steal away his princess.

' I wonder how Dad will treat Jaune.' Her father could be over protective at times. Taiyang had become acquainted with Jaune after the fall of Beacon, but the two didn't know one another all that well. A year ago, he was just a friend from school, not Tai's eldest daughters... something. 'We didn't really clarify that, did we?' Yang mused, sipping on the fresh cup of tea.

Team RWBY was sitting around the same table where their leaders had met previously, and Kali had laid out a fresh pot of tea. Ruby was regaling Blake's mother with tales of RWBY's exploits in Vale, while Weiss and Ghira were bonding over their mutual distaste for Sun Wukong, and getting along quite swimmingly. What was a history of allegiance to two antithetical organizations and families trying to destroy each other when compared to that?

There was a brief moment of uncertainty when the Belladonnas realized that the girl they were happily chattering with was the daughter of one of their old arch-enemies, but the moment passed innocuously. Anyone who liked Blake, and, as Ghira noted, disliked Sun Wukong, was bound to be in their good graces.

" You think that's bad?" Weiss said, shaking her head sympathetically, and dragging Yang out of her thoughts. " The first time we met that ruffian, he had just gotten off of a ship he stowed away on, and was running away from the Vale Police. And he didn't even care! He just winked at Blake like it was nothing and took off!"

" I'd expect nothing less from him." Ghira said irritably. " He never struck me as the reputable sort." Of course, if memory served, Weiss had said some very uncharitable things about the Faunus that day, and she had left that little detail out of her story. Yang wouldn't call her on it though, not this time anyway.

" Now Ghira." Kali chastised. " You weren't always on the straight and narrow path yourself."

The panther scoffed. " That's hardly comparable." He said, remembering his old days building up what was to become the White Fang, after the turmoil of the Faunus Rights Revolution. " I was a rebel with a cause, working for a purpose. That boy is just aimless chaos!"

Kali tutted, but didn't press the matter, but she shared a knowing glance with her daughter. Blake's grandfather had said much the same about Ghira.

"Is the rest of his team as infuriating as he is?" Ghira asked, hoping against hope that it wasn't the case. He couldn't deal with four of them.

" Not quite." Weiss said. " Although they do try. They're each distasteful in their own way." Weiss paused, savoring a sip of tea. Not quite as good as Klein's brew, but more than adequate. " Except for Neptune, of course."

"Neptune?" Kali asked curiously.

" Weiss's boyfriend." Ruby stated.

" Of course." Kali said with a small grin. " Girls will be girls, after all." Then, the matronly Faunus donned a mischievous grin and turned to her husband. " You do realize that with Sun out of the house, you won't be able to keep tabs on where he is at night?"

" Why would I want to do that anymore?" Ghira asked, content to have the bleach blond Faunus out of sight and out of mind.

" Well, with the war on, you can't expect Blake to spend all her time here can you? She'll probably visit her boyfriend quite a bit, well outside of your watch." Ghira paled at the realization.

"Boyfriend?" Weiss asked curiously.

" He wouldn't stop asking." Blake said shiftily, amber eyes flickering, daring someone to challenge her on it. " Saying yes was the easiest way to shut him up." 'Sure, Blake' Yang thought, not missing the light rosy tinge on her old partner's cheeks. 'Keep telling yourself that.'

"Are you alright dear?" Kali asked playfully. " You're not regretting your decision to kick Mr. Wukong out of our humble abode, are you?"

Ghira growled petulantly. " I may have made a _slight_ tactical miscalculation."

" Admit it Ghira." Kali teased warmly, ears twitching. " Somewhere, deep down, you like him a little bit."

" I do not!" Ghira insisted. He was met with the withering stare of his wife and lover's amber eyes, unamused. " But at this point, I do _like_ not liking him." Ghira conceded reluctantly. "He's just so easy to hate!"

" So..." Ruby asked, changing the subject to one that was more relevant to her own concerns. Back to the war.

" Blake, how has Menagerie been?" The cat Faunus seemed unsure of how to handle being directly addressed by her team mates, and kept looking at Yang's right arm.

" Fine, mostly." She said reluctantly. " The White Fang stuck to simple sabotage for the first few months, operating silently. At the time it was unbearable." Blake said. " All we wanted was for them to openly declare their intentions so we could put them down and take back what was ours." She let out a sad, short, bitter bark of a laugh. " Be careful what you wish for."

For a moment, everyone was still, and no one was quite sure how to proceed. Ghira and Kali obviously wanted to help their daughter through this, but reconciling with her friends was something she would have to do on her own.

" How was... your year?" Blake asked anxiously, aware that she had no idea where the three of them had been since she had left.

" Hectic." Ruby answered honestly. " After Beacon, Weiss's Dad came and dragged her back to Atlas. Yang was bedridden for months, and some crazy stuff happened with my silver eyes. Then me and JNPR-"

" JNPR and I." Weiss corrected.

" traveled to Mistral. We ran into some crazy people along the way, like Uncle Qrow, and then found out a bunch of things that we... really aren't supposed to talk about." Ruby said apologetically, looking at Kali and Ghira. They didn't looked pleased by this, but nodded for her to continue.

" Then we arrived at Mistral... and then Mistral." She finished awkwardly, unsure how to condense months of chaos into a few sentences. " Yang got her prosthetic and met up with the rest of us, and finally Weiss ran away from home. Any questions?" Ruby said, thinking it would be easier to let Blake lead the conversation.

" How's JNPR?" She asked, in an attempt to make casual conversation. Ruby, Weiss and Yang all shared a glance. That only worried Blake even more.

" Who exactly is Juniper?" Kali asked, apologetically. " Blake mentioned their name occasionally, but never went in to detail."

"JNPR..." Ruby began meekly, before Weiss cut in, sparing her the burden.

" JNPR was our sister team." She explained. " They lived across the hall from us at Beacon. We had the same classes, ate meals together, and generally associated with one another. They were the only first year team that could really take us on."

" Except for Jaune." Blake said lightly, hoping to lessen the tension with a lighthearted joke. From the reaction she got she failed miserably. Ruby's eyes were starting to tear up, Weiss's composure was strained, and Yang was finally looking at her, glaring daggers. Blake realized that this must be a sore subject for them, and she did not like the way Weiss had emphasized 'was'.

" What happened to JNPR?" She asked, a hint of desperation entering her voice. Weiss was very interested in her tea cup and Ruby was gripping the table, trying to hold back tears. Yang maintained a deathly calm, and for the first time since the battle, she spoke.

" JNPR's gone, Blake." the cat Faunus's eyes widened in shock as a flood of memories entered her mind, the faces of friends she would never see again, all because she ran away.

"...How..." She asked dully, forcing amber eyes to meet lilac, not daring to look away from a truth she couldn't run from any longer.

" Pyrrha died during the Battle of Beacon." Yang answered levelly. 'You'd have known if you'd stuck around for five minutes.' was on the tip of her tongue, and Blake damn well knew it. "Jaune, Ren and Nora went with Ruby to Mistral to find answers. They made it all the way across Anima, before Lionheart stabbed everyone in the back. The bastard killed Ren and Nora personally." Yang paused, radiating fury. " And they made him pay for it too. Almost as much as the rest of us did." She remembered the wounds on the traitors face, from Magnhild's blows, and the tumultuous fury of Ironwood and his Huntsmen, what would become Team JWRY, as they struck back. It took all of them combined, and then some, but they tore Lionheart to pieces.

" And Jaune." Blake asked softly. " How did he die?" If all of JNPR, even the invincible Pyrrha Nikos, had fallen, there was no way the runt of the litter, the weakest of them all, had managed to stick it out.

" Jaune..." Yang said,voice loaded with emotion. Throughout the rest of her monologue she had maintained a cold, silent rage, born of long buried pain. The last loss must have been much more recent. Blake was perplexed as she realized there was an unmistakable tone of longing in that the way Yang said his name. Yang and Jaune had never seemed that close, cordial enough but nothing special. Then again, Blake had been out of the picture since Beacon. Who knows what had happened?

" Jaune is still alive." Yang answered, a small measure of warmth returning. " Somehow, no matter how hard he got hit, he got back up. He's lost a lot, more than any of us, but he never gave up. And he's stronger for it. Stronger than he gives himself credit for. A hell of a lot stronger than we'd thought he'd every be, and not just mentally. He's out done fully trained Hunters, just like us, and overcome impossible odds countless times. No matter how bleak the odds seemed, and when everyone else thought he'd just curl up and die, he soldiered on, carrying the rest of us with him." Yang said, beaming with admiration, with pride, with... love? " And no matter what happened, he never left us."

The last sentence wasn't meant as an accusation, which made it all the worse when Blake acknowledged her guilt.

" And I did." Blake said neutrally. The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Ruby looked at Weiss, searching for answers. Ghira and Kali looked at their daughter and her ex-partner, wondering if they were going to have to intervene.

" Yeah, you did." Yang said, eyes narrowing. " No use beating around the bush."

" But we forgive you!" Ruby interjected, trying to quell the incoming storm before it could gather steam. " We know you had important things to take care of at home, and were just worried about all of us."

Weiss nodded in affirmation. " Just remember to tell us about things like this in the future, before you leave."

Blake was shocked to have earned the trust of two of her team mates back so quickly, partly because she hadn't done anything yet, and partly because they seemed so sincere. They were good friends, better than she deserved. But her ordeal wasn't over. Not just yet. She turned to her partner, awaiting her response.

" Yang?" She whispered, so faintly that if the room hadn't been deathly quiet there would be no way she could have heard it. The blonde paused for an agonizing minute, mulling over something in her head. Her response seemed completely out of left field.

" Is there any place we can spar?" She asked, nonchalantly.

" Come again?" Blake said, confused.

" I said, is there a place we can spar?" Yang said. " It's been over a year." she explained. "If we're going to work together, I need to know what you're capable of."

Ghira and Kali looked at one another, confused. Was this the blonde's form of forgiveness, or punishment? They couldn't interfere either way, no matter how much they wanted to. Blake would have to face the consequences of her actions sooner or later.

" The Old Dojo, by the market place." Blake said. " It was abandoned after the start of the war, but it's still intact. We can go as soon as tomorrow, if you want."

At this, Yang smiled brightly. " Great! Tomorrow it is then." She then stood up, and bowed slightly towards her hosts. " Thanks for the tea Mr. and Mrs. B. I'm going to tuck in for the night. It's been a long day, after all." How Yang had gone from silent stoicism to running the entire emotional gamut in the span of a few minutes had shocked everyone, and no one said anything as she left the room. Blake sighed as her parents began talking nervously. Her ex partner still didn't trust her, and probably didn't like her. 'It isn't anything worse than I deserve."

* * *

Some people said James Ironwood was an aspiring dictator, seizing power across the world as everything ground to a halt. His political enemies decried his reach into their traditional spheres of influence, circumventing the will of the councils and imposing military rule in sovereign Kingdoms. They said he would go down in the history books as a ruthless monster, a tyrant unmatched since the darkest days of the Great War. Ironwood didn't give a damn what they wrote about him, so long as there were still history books being written.

He allowed himself to sigh, a brief, solitary sign of weakness, before continuing on his path. He had just gotten out a meeting where the Mistrali High Council, what was left of it anyway, had tried to insist that they couldn't possibly scrounge up another 1000 conscripts, that Ironwood had already taken all the men they could spare, and then some.

Did they not see the massing hordes of Grimm on their borders? Did they not see the thousands of unwashed refugee families, out of work and clinging to life, who would gladly fight rather than perish in the night? Did they see nothing outside of their own comfort, and pompous insistence that Mistral would never again be under Mantle's thumb?

'Some old wounds never really heal.' He thought dully, eyes tracing over his own multitude of scars, and the hidden mass of metal that composed that made up his left side. Wounds like that were rare in Remnant. Aura protected most Huntsmen from serious damage, and few Hunters whose Aura failed them at the wrong time lived to tell the tale. Those who did never forgot it.

Ironwood straightened himself out, unwrinkling his coat as he made his way forward. He had to keep up appearances, after all. He rubbed his left hand over his jawline. There was quite a bit of stubble, a sure sign that he had been busy lately, to busy to worry about a clean shave. He'd fix that soon, after today.

It hadn't always been like this. He hadn't been expected to carry this kind of burden alone. Ozpin was always much better about this sort of thing, his wizened mysticism leaving civilians awed and pliant far more easily than Ironwood's no nonsense approach. It had been a near miracle that he had convinced the Vale council to side with him over Oz, even after the failure of the Breach. On a childish level that Ironwood would firmly deny he had, he had felt a sense of elation, the kind of a long suffering schoolboy who had finally out done his teacher. No he just felt hollow.

He was alone. The four headmasters, Guardians of the Kingdoms, the Relics, and mankind's future, had disappeared. Ozpin, mighty, omniscient Ozpin, had been killed. Leo had been compromised. And Dorothy... the headmistress of Shade had vanished without a trace.

Some said he was a tyrant, and others said he was a fool, but none saw what he really was. A single pillar, trying to hold up a crumbling building, a single leg expected to balance a loaded table, beginning to creak and crack from the strain. He was alone.

Was it his fault that the others were gone? Was it his fault that Atlas, and only Atlas, had the good sense to have anymore than a basic military force? Was it his fault that he had to spread resources meant to guard one Kingdom across four, letting the out lands fall to the rising tide of bodies? Was it so wrong to levy resources from Kingdom's he was trying to protect, or to share Atlesian tactics and technology with his new troops? It would be madness to do otherwise, long term national interest notwithstanding. Didn't the Atlesians or the Mistrali see that there wouldn't be a long term national interest otherwise!

He spotted a familiar figure standing at attention in front of the barracks, waiting for him. " Winter." He acknowledged, giving her a slight nod as she fell into place behind him, continuing their march. She was unflinchingly loyal and ruthlessly competent. Both traits were in short supply.

Subordinates like her eased his burden, if only a little. There were precious few he could count on, fewer than even he thought. If Leo and Thompson had been traitors, who was to say anyone was trustworthy? He'd stake his life on Winter's loyalty, but even that was a bet he might lose. A leader always had to prepare for the worst, after all. Several times, he considered taking her into his confidence, spilling everything on his mind onto her lap, if only to have someone ease the weight. He never had.

Those who did know the truth were no great comfort. Glynda was off in Vale, trying to piece the Kingdom back together where all of this had begun. Qrow was... Qrow. He was too distant to be much support, and even if he were here, he and James had never gotten along, even in the best of times.

So the mantle of responsibility was his to bear, and his alone. He would take solace in the silent, unquestioning loyalty of those who he counted on, and who counted on him, and beat back the night. Atlas would once again bear the weight of the world.

As he and Winter walked up the stairs, he heard hushed whispers, and felt eyes on his back. Off duty Huntsmen looked in awe and trepidation as the General and his right hand woman walked right into their midst.

The 'barracks' as they were called, used to be a series of low budget hotels, repurposed as the nexus of Huntsman life after the war began and no one in their right minds wanted to visit Mistral. Anywhere that wasn't commandeered by Ironwood was taken by refugees, the early, lucky ones who still found beds to sleep in and roofs over their heads.

None of the Huntsmen in the building seemed all to pleased to see him. General Ironwood didn't make courtesy calls, and when ever he appeared it was for the most dire of circumstances. For those who did see him, he was associated with the worst of their memories, the bloodiest missions, the most heart wrenching losses. Just one more burden to bear.

He and Winter ignored their stares as they made their way to the room. 'She has it almost as bad as I do.' he thought sullenly. Not all the pointed glares were aimed at him.

Finally they stopped, reaching their destination. The placard on the wall read Suite 428. Etched underneath it was an unmistakable sequence of letters. _JWRY_.

He stood in front of the door for a moment, preparing himself, before a voice called out.

"The door's unlocked" It said, emotionlessly. "You can come in. I'm decent."

'Straight to business', Ironwood thought. He could appreciate that. He nodded to Winter, a tacit message of 'wait outside.'

He opened the door, and instinctively his eyes raced over the room, looking for details. The living room had a TV, with a remote control that was gathering dust, and a pullout bed with the sheets still unmade. The proper beds had been moved into the other room, and by force of habit the sole resident of the apartment hadn't taken them, settling in his old place. There was little evidence to suggest that the room had ever been lived in by more than one person, save a few scattered, forgotten belongings that had been almost overlooked in his scan.

" I'm in the kitchen!" The voice called out patiently, and Ironwood walked in to find a blond boy in a blue onesie standing over a stove. Dark blue eyes looked eyes traced over Ironwood as the boy briefly turned around, before his attention went back to his food. " There were two of you." He stated, flipping over a pancake. " Each fairly powerful, if I had to guess. Where's the other one?"

After all the angry attention Ironwood had gotten, the blond teen's apathy was both refreshing and unsettling, as was the boy's ability to see him coming. Had Ironwood been a year younger he would have been very pleased with the level of awareness the once hapless Hunter had shown. Now he knew better. He knew what that progress had cost.

" Come in, Winter!" Ironwood called out, waiting for his trusted Lieutenant to enter, taking a seat at the table. " He knows you're here."

She came into the room. " Winter." Jaune said, giving her a polite nod, before going back to his work.

"Jaune." She said evenly, before taking her own place at the table. Considering how oddly this conversation was proceeding, she appeared rather comfortable, as if she had been her before. She probably had been, Ironwood realized, as this had been her sister's home until last week.

" Weiss left some Atlesian coffee in the Cabinet, Grumman's Ground." He said, back still towards them. " I never really cared for it, but if you guys want some, all you have to do is ask."

Ironwood considered that this might be a very roundabout attempt on his life. Fake an assassination attempt on one of his subordinates, and then have that same subordinate poison him while his guard was down. If Salem was that devious though, he'd let her kill him. He was tired, too tired, and any coffee that was Schnee approved was actually to die for.

" That sounds lovely." Winter replied, a hint of eagerness entering her own voice. " Weiss always had good taste." Jaune nodded before getting out the coffee pot, and began his work.

" Not a fan of coffee, Arc?" Winter asked, curious.

"No. Always more of a hot cocoa guy myself." He shrugged. " Though nothing beats actual sleep."

Winter nodded sardonically. " If we were only so lucky." Sleep was hard to come by, these days. " We haven't all been on bed rest for a week. Speaking of which, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, honestly." Jaune said. " My aura's almost full. Dr. Parcelsus wanted me to take things easy for a few days just in case. He was going to keep me in the hospital, until..." He trailed off. " You know."

" Of course we know." Ironwood said, exasperated. " That is the reason we're here." Ironwood was very familiar with the assassination attempt in his field hospital yesterday. What was supposedly one of the most secure structures with secured entrances and honor guards, bottom of the barrel recruits or not, and strict policies on admission and hiring. How a mole was able to infiltrate the facility was beyond him, and very worrisome. They might have had help from fairly high places to bypass basic procedures. Ironwood hoped desperately that this was a leftover from Thompson. He was sick of having to kill people he thought were his friends. 'It isn't enough that I have to send my soldiers to die, is it? I have to pull the trigger, too.' He wouldn't want anyone else to execute their former allies, that might hurt their morale. 'Just another weight on my shoulders.'

Of course there was also the possibility that the fabled security of the Field Hospital wasn't what it was made out to be. How else could an employee sneak in a vial filled with neurotoxin right into the building and go into a room she wasn't scheduled for? Some of his personnel were already talking about avoiding the hospital at all costs, as a death trap, and that would not do. He needed everyone to be in tip top shape if this was ever going to end well.

James took a sip of the rest cup of roast in front of him, smiling slightly as he repressed a pleased moan. ' I really needed this.' he thought. Caffeine was already rushing to his head, dulling his stress and sharpening his mind. Hopefully it'd make the following conversation a little easier.

" You should be proud, Mr. Arc." he said. " There was enough poison in that syringe to kill twenty men. Someone really wanted you dead."

The blond rolled his eyes sardonically as he set down his own meal. " Yeah, proud. That's how I feel." He picked at a small stack of pancakes with syrup, a bowl of stale Pumpkin Pete's cereal next to it, memories dancing before his eyes, of times when he was only a friend of the power players, and he'd be helping them laugh off this sort of thing. Ironwood hoped he was going to eat something more substantial, but decided not to press the issue. Everyone was allowed to seek some comfort every once in a while. " Assassination is the sincerest form of flattery."

He looked at the general curiously. " With all due respect sir, why are you here?" He asked, gesturing to the half empty suite with the fork in his hand. " I already said everything I knew in the debrief." He had told Parcelsus, who told his supervisor, who told Ironwood. That was how this sort of thing worked. They had a system.

"I'm not here because of the assassination."

Jaune paused, before immediately following up. " Did something happen in Menagerie?" Winter, ice cold as always, tensed slightly, imperceptibly to those who didn't know her. She always had a soft spot for her younger sister.

"Yes and no." Ironwood said. " Your team mates ran into some trouble when they landed, but they're all fine." James took another appreciative sip of the excellent brew. 'Got to enjoy the little things. " I can't share the details, but I'm told they made quite the impression."

" Of course they did." Jaune said with a small chuckle, taking a bite of his own breakfast before it got cold. He had used some of his best ingredients today, after all. Couldn't let them go to waste.

" I'm here to talk about what we're going to do with you."

Jaune cocked and eyebrow at that, before motioning the General to continue, bringing up another cake to his mouth regardless. He couldn't make them quite as well as Ren, but... 'Why do I keep torturing myself like this?' he thought sullenly. It would be so much easier to live in a world where his favorite breakfast wasn't a product of post traumatic stress disorder, delicious or not.

" There are a handful of openings in our forces," Ironwood said, " but I'm worried about how placing you there will affect group cohesion." Jaune nodded. There were plenty of teams that were a man or two down, the war had seen to that. But none of those teams would be eager to get a replacement. They weren't just attack squads, they were friends, brothers in arms who had spent years together. An outsider couldn't walk into that, especially against their will, on orders. Even JWRY had been a stretch, back when it first formed.

He wasn't a graduated Huntsmen, either, so going alone was out of the question. Students were kept in teams because it was common knowledge that they couldn't handle certain situations on their own. The situation was dire enough that they could be used as soldiers, but not alone. And even fully trained Huntsmen were reverting back to teams wherever possible, in a world where even they couldn't hack it on their own. Solitary Hunters like Qrow were becoming the exception rather than the rule. A lone Huntsmen these days was either very strong or very stupid. Sometimes both.

There wasn't much he could do, unless Ironwood found a team willing to take him on, and even then, he might just drag them down. They all knew that.

" You're an asset Jaune." Ironwood said, following the boy's train of thought. " A very valuable asset. Valuable enough that the other side wants you dead." Jaune groaned, but decided against interrupting the General. When it was clear said General was finished, he raised his questions.

"How do you figure?"

"I've seen the records from Beacon." Ironwood said evenly. " JNPR stood heads and shoulders above every first year team save for RWBY, both teams being some of the most promising the school had seen in years. And, both teams made it to the finals of an internationally acclaimed competition, despite their relative youth and inexperience." Jaune nodded sullenly. JNPR and RWBY had been incredible. None of that had anything to do with him. "Then RNJR traversed a continent during a period of intense geopolitical chaos, making quite a name for itself as well." Well, sure... they had helped out a few villages here and there, and taken out some legendary Grimm, but that wasn't that far out of the ordinary for Huntsmen.

"And then," He continued " there's the battle record of Team JWRY to consider." Of course. Because all he needed was another reminder of the friends he lost. "The evacuation of Shanxi, the Miracle at Windpath," Winter nodded appreciatively, " and ... Alluvian Heights." The General paused contemplatively. " I'm still not sure if that maneuver was genius or madness."

"Not much of a difference." Jaune said callously, picking at his plate. "Though I'm tempted to say genius. It worked, didn't it?"

Ironwood shrugged." True. The point is your record reads like that of a cracking good battalion, not a squad of Hunters in training who hadn't finished their first year at the academy."

" I'm only as good as my team." Jaune pointed out, unconvinced. " They really were something else."

"Don't sell yourself short, Arc." The General said. "The enemy disagrees with you. They didn't send an assassin after your teammates." Well, not them specifically, anyway. The General put aside that gory detail for a moment.

"I'm not any happier than you at the loss of my best fire team, I assure you, but I can't afford to waste an asset. We'll find a place for you somewhere."

"By the Brothers." Jaune cursed into his breakfast, considering all the possible places he could be sent, none of which particularly appealed to him. Winter rolled her eyes while Ironwood's widened slightly.

"I never took you for a religious man." He said carefully, thinking that he was being paranoid again, that there was no way this boy could possibly know-

" I don't know if it's still religion without the faith part, since I know for a fact the story's essentially true." Jaune said lazily, shoveling a spoon full of Pumpkin Pete's into his mouth. He didn't miss the look of confusion on Winter's face, and neither her nor she missed the look of comprehension and shock on her superior's face.

" Sir?" She asked pointedly.

Jaune's jaw dropped slightly. " You mean she doesn't know?"

The General sighed, before taking a long sip of his coffee. He was going to need it. "Winter, outside, now." He ordered. " I have to talk to Arc, privately."

Winter rose to obey. " Sir, yes sir." she said with cold irritation.

"We'll talk afterwards." He said grudgingly. He couldn't keep her in the dark any longer, not while maintaining her loyalty. He'd have to let her into his confidence now, at least a little. 'Damned brat'. He thought, looking at the blond nuisance in front of him. To think he was going to offer the kid a promotion.

He got up and walked over the to fresh pot of coffee on the counter before pouring himself another cup. Considering the two very unpleasant conversations he was about to have, he'd need every drop.

"Who told you?" He asked sternly. Jaune shrugged his shoulders, deciding that honesty was the best policy.

" Qrow, on the way to Mistral." He explained. " We had just been ambushed by one of Salem's inner circle, Tyrian, and he told us why." Jaune caught the look of anger on the older man's face and replied to the tacit accusation. " We had a right to know. We needed to." His expression dared Ironwood to disagree.

That bastard. On what authority did he... Ironwood sighed. That information was to be sealed to all but a select few decided by the now defunct Brotherhood. With Oz gone, Qrow thought he had carte blanche to make these decisions for himself. The other headmasters were gone, and the man never acknowledged anyone other than Ozpin as his boss. Ironwood had enough on his plate without trying to convince the rest of the Guardians that he had filled in Ozpin's shoes. Such a task was beyond him anyway.

" How much did he tell you?" Ironwood asked, steeling himself for damage control.

" I know about the Brothers, the Relics, the Maidens, about Salem, and the Silver Eyes." Ironwood winced. The boy didn't know everything, just everything important. "Anything you'd like to add to that list?" Jaune asked.

Ironwood took a deep sip of his coffee, which was starting to burn his tongue. "Not at the moment, no. Who else knows?"

" Team RNJR..." Jaune said softly. " What's left of it, anyway." He forced himself to continue, pushing the familiar pain of loss back down where it belonged. " We all told Yang as soon as she got to Mistral. And I'm pretty sure Ruby told Weiss, once she got here... after Lionheart."

" What do you mean pretty sure?" Ironwood asked angrily. This wasn't a game, this was information that could save or doom Remnant, information that no more than a dozen people had authorization to know.

" I mean I wasn't the one who told her." Jaune pointed out. " I certainly wasn't in a state to do it, and I never double checked with Ruby about it." He took another bite of his breakfast, trying to stay calm under the interrogation. " It's not like this came up in daily conversation."

Of course. At least the _children_ had some common sense, not bandying this information about as if they were talking about the weather. 'That's how I'll spin it.' Ironwood thought. 'Get Winter mad at Qrow for telling children instead of at me for not telling her.'

Now, how would he deal with Arc? The boy seemed trustworthy enough, but he knew far too much for James to leave him unattended. Then again, he would be seeing far more of him anyway, and the offer he was going to make seemed all that more promising now. He could keep a close eye on Jaune Arc, and he'd have a reliable man who could deal with those notorious missions on the not so classified subject matter.

Perhaps this was for the best. At the end of the day, he was still Headmaster of Atlas Academy. It was his duty to raise the next generation of Guardians, to induct new blood into the ailing Brotherhood. Arc and Winter would make fine candidates.

" Very well." He said, clearing his throat. " What's done is done, and I hope you believe me when I say I was going to propose this anyway."

"Go on." Jaune said.

" I'd like to offer you admission into the Atlesian Special Forces."

Jaune's fork dropped out of his hands and hid the floor with a loud clang. He looked at Ironwood as though he had said Pumpkin Pete was a member of the White Fang.

"Come again?"

This was rather unorthodox, and Jaune knew it. The Specialists in the Atlesian army were the best of the best, the cream of the crop at Atlas Academy, who Ironwood had begged and cajoled to join his forces. They took every role from solo covert ops to commanding troops in battle. If Jaune accepted this offer, he'd have access to a great deal more resources and information than he ever would as a volunteer.

He'd also be on a much tighter leash. As an officer in the Atlesian Army, he'd be committed to serving that Kingdom no matter what, and there was no walking away if he didn't like it. He'd be responsible for the lives of men he barely knew, looked up to as a leader, as the vanguard of an elite force, an be put on the most dangerous battles the war had to offer. 'Just like now.' He thought dully.

" It would be a special appointment," Ironwood said, " only for the duration of the war. We can't bend the rules too much." That was nice. If he somehow survived this maelstrom of death he could walk away on his own terms without being permanently tied down. " There would be a trial period as well, given your inexperience. You'd be a junior operative under a full specialist, say, Winter, for example, but once she decided you were ready, you'd have all the rights and privileges of any of my inner circle."

" And all the catches that come with it." Jaune muttered. Nothing like this came for free after all.

" Just think about it." Ironwood said. " I'd like your answer by tomorrow, if possible. Until then, good day to you, Jaune." With that, Ironwood stalked out of the room, satisfied. He saw the gears turning in his soon to be protege's head. The boy was weighing the tactical pro's and cons of his offer, considering the options. If he was as brilliant of a strategist as his record claimed, then Ironwood already had his answer.

He made eye contact with Winter, who was very cooly waiting outside, no doubt expecting an explanation at being kept in the dark for so long. 'And a good one.' Ironwood thought, preparing himself for one more headache today. Because, in a world were everything was being dumped on his shoulders one way or another, why not?

* * *

The old dojo had been one of the first structures built in Kuo Kuana. It had been used by the Faunus to train their finest warriors for generations, falling into the hands of the White Fang and producing such fighters as Sienna Khan, Adam Taurus, Blake Belladonna, and Ilia Amitola. For the past few months it had been abandoned, with a thin layer of dust coating the surface.

The center ring was a wide circle, about ten meters in diameter, with rails marking the suitable distance for spectators to stand. RWBY, her parents, and most of Team SSSN were here to watch the upcoming spar between Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna.

Yang seemed to be fairly upbeat about the upcoming ordeal, stretching on the floor in preparation. Why she bothered flexing her prosthetic arm was beyond Blake.

The blonde had apparently followed her line of vision and thought. "Force of habit." She answered, bored. " Plus, it helps keep the rust out." She stood up, getting into stance. " You ready?"

Blake was nowhere near ready. This room had too many memories. She had fought to many former friends here, and she wasn't keen on adding one more to that list. Images raced through her mind, of outdoing Ilia, of finally landing a hit on Adam, of worming a nod of approval out of High Master Khan... 'stop it.' She thought. She couldn't get distracted. She couldn't run from this.

" I'm ready." she said, steeling herself. Sun smacked the gong with a bit more force than necessary, releasing a hair raising sound that still was torture to both pairs of ears, after all this time. Yang leaped forward, metal fist cocking for the first, exploratory blow.

She stopped half an inch from Blake's face, as lilac met amber once again. " Blake." She said dangerously. "What part of start do you not understand?" The cat Faunus stood, unflinching.

"I have started." She stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then defend yourself!"

"I'm not here to defend myself." Yang pulled her fist back and slipped out of fighting stance, confusion overcoming her.

" I'm not going to defend myself because I don't deserve to." Blake said evenly. " I left you when you needed me most. I'm the reason you lost your arm." She gestured to the sleek, black prosthetic that had been centimeters from pounding her into oblivion moments ago.

" And I broke up your team." She continued. " Twice. I tore you away from your friends, from your loved ones, twice." She sighed. " Ruby and Weiss told me about Jaune, Yang."

" How much?" The blonde asked. Even she wasn't fully able to explain that emotional tempest.

"Enough." Blake said evenly.

The spectators looked over the fighters with trepidation. None of them liked where this was going.

"I know I had no right to call you here." Blake said. " And you have every right to hate me. But like it or not, we're working together. We have to be partners again, if only for a little while, for something that's bigger than both of us."

A flash of red entered the brawler's eyes, but it vanished as soon as it had come.

" So.." the brunette continued. "I'm letting you do whatever it takes to let that happen."

" By doing nothing at all?!" Yang yelled out. " How is that going to fix anything!"

" Simple." Blake said. " Hit me." The blonde bombshell's eyes widened as she stood, motionless.

" What are you waiting for?" Blake asked. " Hit me as hard as you can. As many times as you want. Beat me within an inch of my life if you want to. We need to work together and I'm sure you've got a lot of anger to burn. Whatever you have to do to make this work, just do it." She said, steeling herself. "I can take it."

"Blake, that's crazy!" Sun cried out. He had wanted his girlfriend to talk things out, but not like this! How easy would it be for the fight to go over board if she wasn't going to even stand her ground? Yang wouldn't even have to try to kill her, all it would take is one blow too many, one stray shot to the head.

Ghira glared at the boy all the more harshly because he agreed with him. His daughter had been insistent about this, but that didn't make it less insane. How was he supposed to trust the life of his only daughter in the hands of a young woman who he had met less than a day ago, who clearly wanted to hurt her? He rose to put a stop to this madness, but a soft hand on his shoulder kept him down. Kali sadly shook her head. " Ghira," she whispered, sympathy filling her eyes, ears bent. " We can't."

Ghira stared at her before settling back in. He really couldn't do anything now. But he could and would step in if things got too out of had. And if that psychotic little bimbo thought she could get away with laying a hand on his daughter, she had another thing coming.

Yang shuffled uncertainly. " Anything I want?" She said slowly, mulling over each word. "You mean it?"

" I mean it." Blake replied, bracing herself as she saw her old partner move back into stance. She closed here eyes, waiting for the first blow to come.

It never did. Strong arms swept around her torso, squeezing her tightly. She opened her eyes to find them buried in a mass of golden locks.

" Y..Yang?" She asked, dazed. " What are you doing?"

" You idiot." Yang said softly, so softly that it would have been inaudible to everyone were the room not quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Nearly a dozen pairs of eyes were locked on them, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the embrace of flesh and metal that had wrapped around her.

" Did you have any idea how worried I was when you left? How worried all of us were?" Yang said as she pulled back, going into big sister mode, eyes filled with concern, disappointment, and ... warmth? For her of all people?

" I... I..." Blake stuttered, unsure of what to say, what to do. She was prepared to take the most brutal of beatings in penitence for her failures. Forgiveness? She had no idea how to handle that.

"If you really want to make up, to work together again," Yang said sternly, in a tone that left no room for debate. " You need to promise me something."

" ...What?"

" Never do that again." Blake's eyes watered, her lips quivering slightly as she nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Yang sighed, before letting her partner go. " Good." She turned away, and began walking out of the circle. " We'll fight some other time." the blonde grinned. "When you're in better shape for it."

Blake could live with that. She looked curiously as Yang gestured her to follow. " Come on, Blake." She said. " RWBY's got some catching up to do."

Blake was stunned, but while her mind was racing her body moved, following Yang automatically. She was vaguely conscious of smiling, and felt warm tears running down her face. Somehow, despite everything, they had all forgiven her. She could move on. It was far from over, but she could put her past behind her, and move on with her friends, walking side by side through the night. Maybe they'd even get a happy ending. Nothing was impossible for Team RWBY.

The audience was a smorgasbord of mirth. Team SSSN was chuckling, teasing their leader for worrying. ' I told you so's were thrown around with hearty laughs and smiles. Ruby and Weiss were beaming. The tension in Ghira's body fell out all at once as he leaned into his wife, relaxed. 'I guess I was wrong about her' he thought, revising his opinion of his daughter's partner. ' Not all blondes are infuriating.'

"You know." Kali whispered into his ear, nuzzling her husband happily. "Of all the friends Blake has brought home, I think she might be my favorite."

* * *

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release thy soul, and by my shoulder protect thee._ "

The Nikos estate was crowded. The family had been of the old aristocracy, wealthy, though not exceptionally so. Enough to live comfortably and focus their attention on the arts, like all the upper echelon of Mistral, though perhaps theirs was a peculiar form, with the emphasis on sculpting the body and mind to martial standards.

The once empty hills and fields around the home were filled with tents and bodies, hanging gratefully of the ledge given to a tenuous existence. The Nikos's had offered their property as temporary shelter for those fleeing the darkness. They gave their guests food to stave off hunger, and odd jobs to combat the growing boredom and desolation of the refugees. Days were spent growing small gardens, digging campfires and latrines, and trying to optimize the use of every scrap of land, save a small patch near the edge of the estate.

One hill remained barren, untouched by any human presence. A small mound of dirt that was topped by a young Juniper tree, three sashes tied around its branches. When asked, the Nikos's explained it was a memorial to their daughter, and her friends. The questioning stopped there. Even the most fortunate among them had lost something, and no one would begrudge their benefactors a few square feet of their own land.

Which made it all the stranger that this morning, Forrest saw a man, kneeling on the lonely hill, muttering to himself. " Freaking weirdo." He muttered, catching a disapproving glare from his compatriot.

"Oh, come on Lav." He said, rolling his eyes. " We're all thinking it."

"That doesn't make it right!" The girl said, expecting him to bow to her whim. Just because she was two months older, she thought she knew everything. Pitiful. He was twelve years old, thank you very much, and he could make his own judgements about this sort of thing.

" If he's not a weirdo, why is he anywhere near Pyrrha's tree?" The boy asked. " You know, the one place no one is supposed to go."

"He probably doesn't know any better." She said haughtily. " He certainly doesn't look like he's from around here." You could say that again. Nobody who lived in the rough and tumble of a refugee camp had any real white clothes left, and that freak was cloaked head to toe in the color.

" Then what is he doing here."

The girl craned her neck to get a better look, before a look of understanding overtook her. "I think he's grieving." She said.

"Why would he do that?" Forrest asked.

" Maybe he was friends with her." Lavender said knowingly. Forrest scoffed.

" As if he was friends with THE Pyrrha Nikos. Everyone knows they're all dead too." He gestured to the green and pink sashes on the branches adjacent to the crimson red favored by the Nikos family. " See, proof, right there."

Lavender shook her head. " Forrest." She said. "Huntsmen come in teams of four." The boy's eyes narrowed. There were only three sashes.

"That doesn't prove anything." Forrest said, petulantly. " Besides, what kind of moron wears white to a funeral?"

His companion pouted, in a way that he would never, ever admit was adorable. " I'm getting a closer look."

"What!" He shouted, but before he could stop her she had already closed half the distance between the camp and the hill. 'I don't know why I put up with her.' He thought, chasing after her. Maybe because she was one of the few children in camp around his age. Or maybe, as his sister had forced him to admit, it was because she was ' _sortakindanotreallymaybealittlecute_.'

He stopped running, barely avoiding slamming into Lavender from behind, as they stared at the Paladin before them.

He was standing now, looking at them, nostalgically. 'He really is a weirdo.' Forrest thought to himself. 'What significance could two displaced childhood 'totally just friends' possibly have for him.'

Then he got a real look at the guy. He was blond, and tall, about six feet or so. Much of his body was clad in white armor with a slight gold trim, mostly brand new from the look of it. It looked like a cross between the Atlesian suits his dad had been issued a few weeks ago, and the trappings of the knights of old. The new assault rifle on his back and automatic pistol at his left side played up the modern element, as the sword at his hip did the ancient. He was a churning mixture of past and present, old and new, each struggling for dominance while forming a greater whole.

'Definitely a Hunter.' Forrest thought dejectedly. He had just insulted an honest to god Huntsmen. A friend of Pyrrha Nikos, no less. 'Lavender's never going to let me live this down.'

Unless she was so stupefied by his mere presence that she forgot all about it. " Are... are you a hero?" She asked dumbly.

'Jeez Lav, get a grip.' He thought, not at all jealous of the attention the man was getting. The knight frowned, a sad look in his eye. Traces of the dark side of the legends they had all been told, of the creatures of the night, and of comrades who had been scattered to ash, played across his face.

" Yeah..." he said. " I guess I am." He turned away and began stalking towards the gate.

" Aren't you going to say more than that!" Forrest asked, ignoring the sharp look his friend gave him. " You can't walk away on that note!"

" Sorry kid." the Knight said, politely enough, given the circumstances. " I'm in a bit of a hurry." He sighed. " I just was saying goodbye to some old friends. It might be a while before I see them again." With that, the man in white stalked out of sight.

When he reached the gate, he saw a stern woman, with hair and a coat that matched his armor.

" Where to now?" He asked.

" To the firing range." She said immediately. " Your sword play is... adequate," 'closest thing to a complement I can hope for.' he thought. " but that pathetic excuse for a skill you call aim is absolutely atrocious." She tucked away a stray strand of hair, what he was quickly learning was her nervous tick.

"We're meeting up with Qrow in Kuchinashi in three days, and might run into trouble. I'll be damned if one of my men can't fire a rifle properly in combat."

'Definitely Weiss's older sister.' He thought, a small chuckle barely escaping his lips. If his mentor heard it, she made no mention of it. She was overbearing, but if it meant that he'd get stronger, and be able to protect his friends, well, it was a small price to pay.

'Besides.' He thought. 'Specialists have some say in their deployment schedules.' There was a reason why Winter was the one meeting Qrow. Locks of gold flashed before his eyes, and a true smile made its way to his face as Jaune Arc looked up, ready to face a new day.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: That's all folks. For now anyway. Thank you to all who read, followed, favorited and reviewed 'Hung Jury'. Your enjoyment and support really means a lot to me.**_

 _ **Is the story over? This arc is, at least. When I first wrote this story, the muse was just Mercury beating Jaune within an inch of his life. The story grew organically from that, but I think I've pushed this boat out about as far as it should go. The story was really about the disbanding of Team JWRY and the immediate aftermath. RWBY's back together, Jaune and Yang are sort of a thing, and Jaune's moving into Ironwood's inner circle. I've built a nice little sandbox, and I intend to play in it again. I'll update you all when it happens, and I want to make the sequels bigger and better than this one. But until then, thank you all, and goodnight.**_


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